LAGOS - Nigeria is in "dire straits", one of the country's main opposition parties said Tuesday, as delegates gathered for a national convention ahead of next year's elections.
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has pulled together multiple formerly unaligned opposition politicians as Nigeria prepares for January polls, but is riven by internal rivalries as it faces down the behemoth All Progressives Congress, which controls the presidency, national assembly and almost every governorship.
Rauf Aregbesola, ADC secretary, hit President Bola Tinubu on the country's cost of living crisis, as well as longstanding issues such as insecurity and the country's shambolic power grid.
"This has been the worst time in terms of security of the nation, with banditry and terrorism spreading across the country. But also worrying is the mad lack of empathy by the rudderless presidency," he told a crowd in Abuja.
"The country is in dire straits and we cannot allow this continued drift into hopelessness."
Tinubu has presided over reforms hailed by economists as long overdue, including the liberalisation of the exchange rate and the removal of a costly fuel subsidy.
But prices have skyrocketed, with inflation cresting at roughly 33 percent in December 2024 before easing to about 15 percent in February 2026.
The country's long-running jihadist insurgency, meanwhile, has become worse over the past year, researchers have warned.
A series of mass kidnappings, as well as two major suicide bombings in Borno state capital Maiduguri since December, have evoked memories of the 17-year conflict's peak a decade ago.
It remains to be seen whether the ADC can capitalise on people's dissatisfaction, however.
The party is locked in power struggles that have spilled into the courts. Amid the impasse, Tuesday's national convention was not slated to pick presidential candidates.
The ADC has also alleged that authorities pressured private venues to deny them space to rally in Abuja.
After the venue was finally selected, the police presence was too small to adequately handle thousands of jubilant supporters trying to enter, said an AFP reporter who was among other members of the media who were unable to make it into the venue.
Eventually, police tear-gassed the crowd outside to disperse it. Inside, party leaders continued their speeches.
Source: AFP