A former president of Nigerian Bar Association, Dr Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), has said President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration is the worst in the history of Nigeria.
Agbakoba, who is one of the leaders of the National Intervention Movement, on Tuesday described the almost four years under Buhari as locust years, saying the Coalition of United Political Parties was determined to save the country by bringing Buhari’s reign to an end.
He described Buhari’s re-election mantra, “Next Level,” as a failed document and one lacking in “conceptual overhang.”
Agbakoba, who rated the campaign document of the Peoples Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, higher than Buhari’s, said were the presidential election to hold today, Atiku would win, while Buhari would come “distant second.”
He, however, expressed the fear that Buhari, if defeated, might not be willing to relinquish power, decrying the presence of the service chiefs at the launch of Buhari’s re-election campaign on Sunday.
The lawyer spoke with journalists in his Ikoyi, Lagos office on Tuesday morning.
He said, “We clearly understand that to win the forthcoming elections, we require a united opposition. So, all the parties are simply presenting their presidential candidates but by January, the CUPP will formalise its consensus candidate.
“It may well be Atiku or it may not but the person who will be chosen must be one who has the heavy-lifting, who can get the job done.
“Personally, I’m pro-Atiku because I think he has the heavy-lifting but I will not preempt anything.”
He added, “We are all united in the mantra and the strong song around our campaign, that is, ‘Anybody but Buhari.’
“We are making sure the four locust years from 2015 to 2019 will never repeat themselves in Nigeria. This has been the worst government in Nigeria’s history.
“Unemployment rate at 20 million, youth unemployment is so high, inflation at about 18 per cent, borrowing requirement or interest rate at about 22 per cent; nothing is working. So, we need to do something to reclaim it.”
Agbakoba said part of the strategies of the CUPP was to engage with the people at the grass roots and to ensure that people’s votes count in 2019.
He said, “We want to make sure the votes count. Clearly, the signal and the obvious determination on the part of this government is to potentially rig the election and or refuse to leave if beaten and we are staring a potential legitimacy crisis next year because President Buhari isn’t (former) President Jonathan.”
