Pat Utomi, professor of political economy and APC chieftain, lamented increased poverty and insecurity under President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime, asserting that Nigeria is the most miserable place to live.

“The truth of the matter is that this is the most miserable place to live on earth today; all the statistics say so,” Mr Utomi said on Channels TV. “Poverty rules the land but do you see it reflected in the lives of the political class? No, you don’t. Today, we have overtaken India in terms of the total number of the poorest people on the planet.”

He added, “They are dying from insecurity with all the killings every day, more people are killed in Nigeria every day in most of the major civil wars of the world. Today we are dying more from malaria than any other people in the world.”

Mr Utomi accused Nigerian politicians of lacking empathy.

“Politics has been reduced to how do you capture a state and use it for your own aggrandisement… Nigerian politicians do not have empathy for the people. There is a complete disconnect between the political class and the people,” Mr Utomi explained.

Mr Utomi’s remark came amid the deterioration of worsening insecurity.

Last week, bandits ambushed a 42-seater bus at Sabon Birni, Sokoto, killing 23 persons.

President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday sent a delegation to Sokoto and Katsina.

“I have dispatched a high-level delegation of security and intelligence chiefs, led by the National Security Adviser, Major General Babagana Monguno (retd.), to Sokoto and Katsina states, in response to the spike in the activities of bandits in the two states,” Mr Buhari said.