Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has warned that Nigeria is entering a perilous phase in which opposition voices are not only harassed through state institutions but are now being physically targeted.

Atiku maintained that the ruling APC appears to have escalated its intolerance from bureaucratic suppression to open aggression.

The former Vice President and 2027 potential presidential aspirant on the platform of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, ptoested the violent attack on Peter Obi, Chief John Oyegun, Prof. Oserheimen Osunbor, Olumide Akpata, and other Coalition ADC leaders in Benin, Edo State. He said the attack is utterly condemnable and unacceptable in any democracy.

Atiku decried reckless and inflammatory rhetoric from elements within the ruling party in Edo State, noting that they are rhetoric that dangerously legitimises violence against political opponents. "Words, when weaponised, often precede actions. What happened in Benin did not occur in a vacuum," he said.

Atiku, in a brief statement asserted:

The violent attack on Peter Obi, Chief John Oyegun, Prof. Oserheimen Osunbor, Olumide Akpata, and other Coalition ADC leaders in Benin, Edo State, is utterly condemnable and unacceptable in any democracy.

In recent times, we have witnessed reckless and inflammatory rhetoric from elements within the ruling party in Edo State, rhetoric that dangerously legitimises violence against political opponents. Words, when weaponised, often precede actions. What happened in Benin did not occur in a vacuum.

Nigeria is entering a perilous phase in which opposition voices are not only harassed through state institutions but are now being physically targeted. The ruling APC appears to have escalated its intolerance from bureaucratic suppression to open aggression.

Bola Tinubu and the nation’s security chiefs bear a constitutional responsibility to guarantee the protection of lives and property without discrimination or partisanship. The safety of opposition leaders and supporters is not a favour; it is a democratic obligation.

Nigeria must not descend into a theatre where politics is settled by violence. -AA