Malami: Tinubu strangling democracy — Atiku
He said Tinubu was pushing Nigeria towards full-blown authoritarian rule, with dangerous implications for the West African subregion.
Former Vice President of Nigeria and leading voice in the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has accused President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of strangling democracy over the handling of the case involving a former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami.
He said Tinubu was pushing Nigeria towards full-blown authoritarian rule, with dangerous implications for the West African subregion.
Abubakar was reacting to what he described as a state-sponsored siege by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) on the residences and businesses of Malami, an action he called lawless, vindictive, and politically motivated.
According to his media office, the DSS swooped in to seal Malami’s properties shortly after his visit to the former AGF despite the matter being before the courts.
Abubakar said: “This is not governance.
“This is intimidation.
“This is a regime weaponizing state power to silence dissent.”
He warned that Nigeria is witnessing the rapid erosion of democratic norms under Tinubu, with state institutions now reduced to tools of political persecution.Politics
He added: “What we are seeing is the naked abuse of power—security agencies deployed not for national security, but for settling political scores.
“This is how democracies die.”
Abubakar accused the Tinubu administration of running a deliberate and coordinated campaign to crush opposition voices and impose total political control ahead of the 2027 elections.
He said: “Let it be said clearly: this government is terrified of competition.
“That is why it is resorting to brute force—harassing, intimidating, and attempting to break opposition leaders into submission.”
Abubakar further alleged that the sustained targeting of figures like Nasir el-Rufai and Malami is part of a broader strategy to coerce them into abandoning opposition politics and falling in line with the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
He said: “This is political extortion at the highest level—join us or be destroyed.
“That is the message being sent.”
The former Vice President warned that Nigeria is dangerously close to becoming a one-party state in all but name.
He added: “When opposition is criminalised and dissent is punished, elections become a mere formality.
“If Tinubu wants to run unopposed, then let INEC stop wasting public funds on a sham election.”
Drawing a parallel, Abubakar likened the current trajectory to the infamous late General Sani Abacha era self-succession plot.
He said: “We have seen this script before.
“It ended in national disgrace.
“What is happening now is a dangerous replay—one that Nigerians must resist.”
Abubakar further accused the administration of using anti-corruption agencies as instruments of political coercion, forcing elected officials to defect under pressure.Politics
He said: “Governors and political leaders are being railroaded into the APC under threat of persecution.
“This is not politics—it is state capture.”
He questioned the moral basis of a system where one man seeks to bend the entire political structure to his personal ambition.
He said: “No individual has the right to hijack the destiny of over 200 million Nigerians just to cling to power.
“Leadership is not ownership.
“Freedom of choice is the lifeblood of democracy.
“Once you kill it, dictatorship takes over.
“What Tinubu is engineering is nothing short of a civilian coup—denying Nigerians real options while pretending to run a democracy.
“A confident leader welcomes competition.
“Only a weak and insecure one fears it.
“This administration’s actions expose its fear—and Nigerians are watching.”
