Atiku painted a bleak picture of current realities, contrasting them with the prosperity of the past.

“When I was growing up in the North, Kano was the most prosperous state. After secondary school, I moved there and never saw people sleeping on the streets. But today, people are sleeping under bridges and on the streets, driven there by poverty and insecurity.”

He also alleged that efforts by the Kano State Government to remove destitute individuals from the streets were halted following directives from Abuja.

“There is a state agency in Kano responsible for providing support to such people. And they started doing their work and enlightening people and removing them from under the bridges and outside on the streets. They were called to Abuja and they were told to stop it,” Atiku said.

He expressed determination to resist the trend, saying, “You may call me a conspirator, you may call me anything, and that is why we are in this alliance to make sure we don’t allow them to continue weaponising poverty. Of course, one of our star conspirators is Rotimi Amaechi.

“We will continue to conspire with you to make sure we minimise poverty and we don’t use state machinery to weaponize poverty.”

Echoing Atiku’s concerns, El-Rufai said the country was in its most perilous state since its formation.

Nigeria is in its biggest trouble since 1914. We are working and conspiring to build a coalition to take Nigeria back on track, because it is off track,” he said.

However, El-Rufai differed slightly on Atiku’s assertion that poverty is being deliberately weaponised.

He instead blamed persistent leadership failures, saying many who ascend to power do not know what to do with it.

“We hand over leadership to people who are simply incompetent. They grab power but don’t know what to do with it. Wherever there’s progress in Nigeria, it’s because a competent person has been given the opportunity.”

He urged Nigerians to make better choices in the 2027 general elections.

“The key challenge is to choose leaders with competence, capacity, and commitment to move Nigeria forward.” El-Rufai said.

In a contrasting submission, Amaechi said Nigerian leaders were not the root of the country’s problems, placing the blame squarely on the citizens.

“Nigerian leaders and elites are not the problems of Nigeria. The problem of Nigeria is the followership. No Nigerian leader cares for you, and the reason is because you will do nothing,” he stated.

Amaechi also recalled the aftermath of citizen protests, saying, “You protested; at the end of the protest, the president announced an increase in the price of fuel because you will do nothing.”

Frustrated with the nation’s stagnation and seeming apathy, Amaechi said, “We don’t want to move the country forward. If you’re not ashamed, I’m ashamed.”

He concluded with a question: “I look at Nigeria and I ask myself, what are we actually doing here? Do we really want to be a country?”