Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has expressed deep concern over the low voter turnout recorded during Saturday’s area council elections in Federal Capital Territory, warning that Nigeria’s democratic system is gradually being weakened.
Gatekeepers News reports that in a statement issued on Sunday by his media office in Abuja, Atiku said the poor participation reflected a political climate dominated by intolerance, intimidation, and the steady silencing of opposition voices. He accused the administration of President Bola Tinubu of shrinking the democratic space and discouraging citizens from active involvement in governance.
“When citizens lose faith that their votes matter, democracy begins to die,” the statement reads. “What we are witnessing is not mere voter apathy. It is a direct consequence of an administration that governs with a chokehold on pluralism. Democracy in Nigeria is being suffocated slowly, steadily, and dangerously.”
Atiku warned that the continuous decline in participatory governance, if not urgently addressed, could cause lasting damage to the country’s democratic foundations built over several decades. He stressed that democracy cannot thrive without strong opposition, free political competition, and public trust.
“A democracy without vibrant opposition, without free political competition, and without public confidence is democracy in name only,” he said. “If this chokehold is not released, history will record this era as the period when our hard-won freedoms were traded for fear and conformity.”
The former vice-president, who is a chieftain of the African Democratic Congress, urged opposition parties to close ranks and work together in the collective interest of rebuilding and strengthening Nigeria’s democracy.
In the election results, the All Progressives Congress won five of the six chairmanship positions, while the Peoples Democratic Party secured victory in Gwagwalada area council. The African Democratic Congress did not win any chairmanship seat in the polls.
