Kofoworola Bucknor-Akerele, former Deputy Governor of Lagos State, has raised alarm over what she sees as the APC’s aggressive push to eliminate meaningful political competition in Nigeria, asserting that such efforts to undermine opposition parties ahead of the 2027 general elections are bound to fail.
Speaking on Vanguard’s political programme, Politics Hub, Bucknor-Akerele expressed deep concern about the state of the country, taking aim at the ruling party’s handling of security challenges and the ongoing economic crisis.
Asked to give her frank view of Nigeria’s political landscape under President Bola Tinubu, the former deputy governor characterised the moment as a perilous one in the nation’s democratic history, accusing the APC of working to penetrate and destabilise opposition structures even as ordinary Nigerians continue to bear the weight of severe economic hardship.
Bucknor-Akerele said: “Well, we are in a very dangerous political climate at the moment, we are in danger of being swamped by insurgents and then, we are also in danger of being lost economically because the economic situation is really disastrous. Most people are finding it difficult to be able to eat one square meal a day and this is a tragic situation for us to be in.”
“Look at what is happening to all the political parties. The main party is trying to infiltrate all the political parties and turn Nigeria into a one-party state and I do not think it can work,” she added.
Bucknor-Akerele, was deputy to Tinubu as governor of Lagos State from May 1999 to December 2002, though Tinubu was in office till May 2007. She resigned after a series of political disagreements with the governor at that time.
When asked about her working relationship with President Tinubu while he served as governor of Lagos, Bucknor-Akerele revealed that they both clashed in terms of political agenda and Tinubu was not willing to work with her.
She continued, “Bola Ahmed Tinubu did not want to work with me at all because he had a different agenda to the agenda of what the AD stood for at that time. What he wanted was somebody who would assist him in taking over the AD and because I was not ready to do that, we had our differences.”
I think some people go into power for self-aggrandizement, while others go into power because they want to serve and I think that was the difference between me and the powers that be, let us put it that way,” she added.
