• ADC condemns Akpabio’s seven virgin’s remark
Chuks Okocha in Abuja
Presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has pledged to make life more affordable and improve security across Nigeria, blaming President Bola Tinubu’s administration for the rising cost of living.
Atiku made the promise in a post on his official X account yesterday, while urging registered voters to collect their Permanent Voter Cards ahead of the 2027 elections.
The former vice-president said Nigerians of different ages and economic backgrounds were grappling with financial hardship and insecurity.
“Parents go to bed worried about what they will feed their children tomorrow. Pensioners must choose between buying medicine and buying food. Young people work hard, yet transport, rent and basic needs consume what they earn,” Atiku said
“And across the country, families live with the fear of kidnapping, attacks and whether their loved ones will return home safely,” he added.
Atiku warned that Nigerians should not have to contend with hunger and insecurity at the same time, urging the country to prevent the current challenges from becoming the inheritance of future generations.
He called on eligible voters to collect and keep their PVCs, describing the cards as a means of exercising their democratic rights and seeking change through the ballot.
“If you are a registered voter, please go and collect your PVC. Hold on to it. It is your voice, your choice and your peaceful power to demand change,” he said.
Atiku also accused Tinubu’s administration of making life more expensive and pledged to reverse the trend if given the opportunity to govern.
“Bola made life expensive. I will work to make life affordable again and restore the security every Nigerian deserves,” he said.
“Let us stand together, across generations, and vote for a Nigeria where every family can live with dignity, safety and hope,” he added.
ADC Condemns Akpabio’s Seven Virgin’s Remark
Meanwhile, the ADC, has condemned Senate President Godswill Akpabio’s reported remarks on attempted suicide, describing his reference to “seven virgins” as a cynical and offensive comment that potentially promoted religious stereotyping.
In a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the party also described the Senate President’s defence of imprisonment for suicide survivors as a disgraceful endorsement of what it called “an outdated colonial relic” that preferred to punish citizens who ordinarily required help.
The ADC commented on the National Suicide Prevention Bill which the Senate President had supported via imprisonment as punishment for failed suicide attempts.
In a video that went into circulation afterwards, Senator Akpabio could be heard saying, as he laughed, “why death may be attractive to some young people is that they have seven virgins waiting for them.”
The opposition party said it took strong exception to the Senate President’s remarks.
According to Abdullahi, “We find the ‘seven virgins’ remark particularly disturbing because it introduces religious stereotyping into a discussion that should be about protecting human life. Such a lurid comment is not only careless and insensitive. It also trivialises an issue that is, literally speaking, a matter of life and death.”
The party however declared its support for the position that suicide is a mental health issue rather than a criminal act.
“The criminalisation of attempted suicide is a colonial legacy. These laws belong to an era when people experiencing profound distress were treated as offenders who, by trying to take their own lives, wanted to deprive ‘the Crown’ of the services they could render and the taxes they could pay, rather than as human beings in need of care.
“It is shameful that, when presented with an opportunity to reform this punitive inheritance, the head of the Senate chose to champion its preservation. Nigeria cannot continue to punish people for surviving a crisis that nearly claimed their lives, especially when those who handed us those laws have long abolished them,” the party said.