The Presidency has faulted former Vice President Atiku Abubakar for comments likening governance under the All Progressives Congress (APC) to a military dictatorship, describing the comparison as misleading, exaggerated, and injurious to Nigeria’s democratic record.
 
Special Adviser to the President on Media and Public Communication, Sunday Dare, said the remarks amount to a distortion of history and an attempt to delegitimise democratic outcomes following electoral defeat.
 
Dare was reacting to comments attributed to Atiku at a public event in Abuja on Tuesday, where the former Vice President reportedly described the APC-led administration as worse than military rule and the poorest form of governance he had witnessed in nearly four decades of political engagement. 
 
Specifically, the comments were made at the launch of a book authored by the spokesman of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Bolaji Abdullahi.
 
In a statement posted on his verified X handle yesterday, Dare said it was troubling for a former Vice President, who served under a constitutional democracy, to conflate democratic governance with military authoritarianism.
 
According to him, such comparisons trivialise the painful experiences Nigerians endured during military regimes, when civil liberties were curtailed, and dissent was often met with detention, exile or worse.

He noted that the continued freedom of opposition figures to criticise the government, hold meetings and participate freely in politics underscores the distinction between democracy and dictatorship.
 
Dare further accused Atiku of deploying exaggerated rhetoric to undermine confidence in democratic institutions whenever electoral outcomes do not favour him, arguing that policy disagreements should not be framed as evidence of authoritarian rule.
 
Defending the administration of President Bola Tinubu, the presidential aide maintained that the ongoing reforms, though challenging, are products of a democratically elected government accountable to the people.