By Toye Adeyanju (Lagos State Correspondent)
Nigeria's former Vice President and the 2023 Presidential flagbearer of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has said that the country has witnessed the worst level of mass poverty, insecurity and unemployment under the regime of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) since the dawn of current democracy in 1999.
Atiku made this claim on Monday, August 22, 2022, at the Eko Hotels and Suites in Victoria Island, Lagos, venue of the 62nd edition of Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) annual conference. The theme of the Lagos conference billed to hold between August 19 to 26, 2022, is, “BOLD Transitions”.
Atiku observed that negative things now occurs in Nigeria. He said, “Since the return of democracy in 1998/99, Nigeria has never found itself in such a very very critical point in our history. Today, we have had all the negative indices. Today, we are all disunited in the nation.
"We have never experienced this level of poverty. We have never experienced this state of insecurity. We have never experienced this level of unemployment. We have recognised all these negative development in our history".
These unpleasant developments, he said, have necessitated the need for a joint effort by all Nigerians to tackle them. “This is where history and experience beckon on us to make sure that we don’t get it wrong at this point in time otherwise if we get it wrong. I don’t know when we will ever get it right.
“I have been involved in the struggle to return this country to democracy to this country in the time of military days. In fact, I can even say I was even lucky to be alive because so many of my contemporaries have been killed in this struggle but by the grace of God I have survived till this point in time,” the former vice president stated.
On why he chose to go to the NBA Annual General Conference, Atiku explained on his Twitter handle on Monday, that it was purely to give the Nigerian lawyers insights into his 'bold' policy initiatives.
“I used the opportunity of the first plenary session of the 62nd NBA conference to give Nigerian lawyers an insight into my bold policy framework that embodies Unity, Security, Economy, Education and Devolution of power to states and local governments.
”Known by the acronym of Unity-SEED. I stressed how interconnected these five policy prescriptions are. I assured them that a new Nigeria of our dreams is possible in the hands of a bold man of experience. -AA,” the PDP Presidential Candidate tweeted. NNL.
