The presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar said it is delusional for President Bola Tinubu to blame the opposition for hunger and hardship in the country.
President Tinubu had, during Kaduna rally on Saturday to flag-off his presidential campaign, blamed opposition political parties for hunger in the country.
The president had declared, “I hear my opponent talking about hunger, poverty. Who created it? They did. They created hunger. They created poverty. We are trying to eradicate it.”
But Atiku in a statement by Director, Strategic Communication of ADC Presidential Campaign Council (ADC-PCC), described such statement as political amnesia.
He stated that the APC governed Nigeria for eight years before Tinubu, another APC government, took office.
“You have added another three and a half years. Nigerians know who has been in power, and hardship did not begin when the opposition started talking about it. Stop insulting their intelligence and answer for your record,” the ADC candidate said.
Atiku told the president that the hardship his administration brought upon Nigerians is real, and advised him to own up and stop blaming others.
According to him, Tinubu’s decision to commission the unfinished Abuja-Kaduna expressway from inside a stadium showed how far removed he was from the daily reality of Nigerians, and said a road cannot be completed with a speech or a ribbon cutting ceremony.
He demanded to know from the president the administration that removed the petrol subsidy and watched the naira fall from about ₦471 to ₦1,329 to the dollar, or the administration that presided over a rise in poverty that led the World Bank to estimate that 63 per cent of Nigerians would be below the national poverty line in 2026?
“Which administration extended the 2024 budget into 2025 while also operating a separate 2025 budget?
“Which administration recorded ₦7.13 trillion under ‘energy security’ in 2024 and faces questions over ₦11.2 trillion in NNPC pipeline related spending? Nigerians deserve to know who received these sums and what was delivered.
“Which administration must explain the $12.4 billion gap flagged in Nigeria’s external accounts for the first half of 2026? Which administration paid $22.5 million in ‘other charges’ on the Abu Dhabi financing facility?
“Which administration is responsible for the killings, kidnappings and displacement that continue to terrorise communities?
“These are the questions Nigerians are asking while your government blames the opposition,” Atiku said.
He added that the people would judge Tinubu’s government by the lives they are living, not by the excuses he offered at campaign rallies.
“The 2027 presidential election will be a referendum on your record.
“Nigerians have felt the cost of your leadership in their homes, markets and communities. Their verdict is already clear: they have rejected your administration,” Atiku added.
