Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has accused the administration of President Bola Tinubu of gifting leaders of opposition N50m each in bribe to whittle down anti-government actions.
Atiku alleged this on Monday in Abuja at a national conference on strengthening democracy in Nigeria, organised by the African Centre for Leadership, Strategy and Development (Centre LSD), the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), the Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD), the Peering Advocacy and Advancement Centre in Africa (PAACA), and the National Peace Committee (NPC).
The former VP was a panellist at the event alongside former governors and ministers, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai and Rotimi Amaechi.
Speaking, Atiku raised the alarm, alleging that the country is being steered in the direction of losing democracy by the present government.
He accused the government of bribing opposition members with N50m each to shut up opposing views and actions.
“I want to say it here publicly. I met with a political party leadership in the present opposition, and they told me flatly that this government gives them N50 million each.
“Where do we go from here? This means that if we are not careful, we are talking to some of you here, but you are recipients of the N50 million from the APC government.
“Do we really want to fight for democracy? If we don’t, we all go back to our homes. But if we do, I have been in this struggle for over 30 years, an attempt was made on my life, and I escaped. I went into exile, but I never gave up. My businesses were taken over, and I am still surviving. So, you need to make up your mind. I am not doing it for myself. For me, I have lived my life. I am doing it because of you,” the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP Presidential candidate in the last general election remarked.
