Ten years ago, a wave of hope swept across Nigeria. The All Progressives Congress (APC) presented itself not just as an alternative, but as a messiah.
Our campaign was built on powerful, simple promises: to heal a bruised economy, to secure the nation, to fight corruption, and to lift millions from poverty. We asked for your trust, and you gave it to us decisively.
Today, as we are presented with the ledger of our stewardship, the numbers do not lie. They scream. They tell a story not of progress, but of a devastating reversal, not of renewed hope, but of a profound national despair.
This is not the Nigeria we promised. This is a grand betrayal of the covenant we made with the Nigerian people.
Let us confront the stark evidence, comparing the nation we inherited in 2015 with the nation we have delivered in 2025:
The very foundations of daily life have been shattered. The Naira, a symbol of our sovereignty, has been crushed, plummeting from ₦197 to a staggering ₦1,500 against the dollar. Life’s essentials have become luxuries. Petrol, once ₦87, now cripples at ₦930.
The kerosene and diesel that power homes and businesses have soared from under ₦200 to ₦1,300. A bag of rice, the national staple, has jumped from ₦8,000 to an incomprehensible ₦65,000.
The tools of livelihood and enterprise are now out of reach. The motorcycle for the young courier, the tricycle (Keke) for the urban transporter, the sewing machine for the tailor—their prices have multiplied by five, seven, even ten times.
How can a nation prosper when its people cannot afford the instruments of their own productivity?
The macro-economic indicators paint a picture of a nation in freefall. We have managed the tragic paradox of growing our external debt from $9.7 billion to over $100 billion, while our GDP has collapsed from $493 billion to $285 billion.
We have exchanged debt for decline. Unemployment has exploded from 13% to a catastrophic 48%, meaning nearly half of our willing workforce is idle.
Inflation, once a single digit at 7%, now ravages purchasing power at 45%. Most damning of all, the number of our citizens living in poverty has quadrupled from 45 million to a horrifying 180 million.
This is our legacy. A legacy where the sacred pilgrimage of Hajj has been priced out of reach for the common man, and a cylinder of cooking gas costs what a minimum wage earner cannot afford.
To the millions of Nigerians who wake up each day facing this harsher, poorer, more insecure reality: we hear your cries. We see your struggle.
And we, the leadership of the APC, must look you in the eye and offer not excuses, but a profound and unequivocal apology. The policies, the politics, the priorities—they have failed you. The “Change” we promised has mutated into a crushing hardship we never intended.
This op-ed is not a defence. It is an acknowledgement. Acknowledging that somewhere along the line, the compass broke.
That the fight against corruption became tainted, that economic diversification remained a slogan, that security deteriorated tragically, and that the burden of our choices landed on the backs of the most vulnerable.
As we approach another electoral cycle, we do not ask for your blind faith. We have forfeited that right. We can only ask for your clear-eyed scrutiny.
The task before us now is not merely to seek another term, but to embark on a radical course correction. It demands new thinking, urgent, people-focused interventions, and a brutal honesty about past errors.
The Nigeria of 2025 is wounded, but it is not dead. The spirit that made this nation great persists in its people. We must now match that spirit with a humility we lost and a focus we misplaced.
The decade of decline must end. The work of genuine, tangible, and inclusive renewal must begin. We owe you nothing less.
The APC Leadership
