By Hajara Abdullahi
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has lamented that incessant borrowing by the Federal Government has pushed Nigeria to the verge of economic collapse.
Atiku made this known on Thursday in his New Year message to Nigerians, posted on his official X handle, where he described 2025 as one of the most punishing years in the nation’s history.
“Dear Fellow Nigerians, I extend my compliments of the season as we welcome the New Year, 2026. For millions of long-suffering Nigerians, the only consolation is that 2025, one of the most punishing years in our recent history, has come to an end,” Atiku stated.
He added that under the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) administration, the year 2025 was characterized by economic suffocation, political recklessness, and a lack of empathy.
“The past year exposed, in stark terms, the incompetence and policy bankruptcy of President Bola Tinubu. Governing for months without a functional budget, the administration relied on propaganda while borrowing recklessly, pushing the nation to the brink of economic collapse,” he said.
Speaking on the recently implemented gazetted tax laws, Atiku described them as a “forged document shamelessly branded as a reform.”
“Even more disturbing was the President’s refusal to allow due legislative and legal processes to address what is clearly a criminal act,” he added.
Atiku further lamented that Nigeria’s democratic foundations were deliberately weakened in 2025, as the APC allegedly worked systematically to deform the nation’s multiparty democracy into a de facto one-party state through coercion, intimidation, and state capture.
According to him, the Federal Government has plunged the nation deep into debt while falsely claiming to have met revenue targets.
He also decried the worsening insecurity across the country, citing the surge in kidnappings and violent crimes.
“Lives were lost, livelihoods destroyed, and communities terrorized, while government assurances rang hollow,” Atiku said.
The former Vice President urged Nigerians to remain steadfast despite the prevailing hardships, noting that this was one of the most painful New Year messages he had ever written — fully aware of the despair confronting millions of citizens as a result of the “callous and soulless policies of the Tinubu-led APC government.”