Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar who is the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress has condemned President Bola Tinubu’s latest attack on his investment in education.
He described the attack as a desperate attempt to distract Nigerians from the failure of the current administration.
The condemnation came in a statement issued by the Director of Strategic Communication Phrank Shaibu. Atiku said Tinubu has again shown Nigerians why they should not allow him to continue as president after his first tenure. Tinubu also chose to question Atiku’s investment in education and asked how he built an educational institution while serving as Vice President.
Atiku stated that the answer is simple. His investment in education predates his time in public service. In 1993 while a United States court ordered the forfeiture of 460000 dollars in funds in an account in Tinubu’s name and described them as proceeds of narcotics trafficking or funds involved in unlawful financial transactions he was laying the foundation for ABTI Academy. That academy has since grown into the American University of Nigeria. Atiku pointed to this as the clear difference in their paths at the time.
Atiku added that the moment captures the difference between them. His history is traceable and he can show Nigerians how he built his name achieved success in business and entered public leadership. Tinubu’s own history remains clumsy and foggy and he cannot erase it by attacking Atiku’s record in education.
He said a president who has plunged the country into a crushing cost of living crisis has no business asking Nigerians for another mandate. The real conversation about the 2027 election is how to repair the damage the government has done.
Tinubu has said Nigeria cannot return to subsidy and must move forward. Atiku asked where he is taking the country. He asked if the direction is forward into deeper poverty mounting debt insecurity and mass unemployment.
Since the inauguration in 2023 the leadership has become synonymous with hardship pain and despair. The record is a working example of how a country should not be led. The government has created poverty on an industrial scale and pushed more than 79 million Nigerians into extreme poverty.
The campaign’s Director General has said hungry Nigerians are simply lazy. He delivered that statement in grammar so badly constructed it could wake the dead. The government does not even believe Nigerians are hungry. Atiku asked how a problem can be solved when it is refused to be acknowledged. Poverty was created and then the people suffering from it were insulted. The attack on the Affordable Life campaign is really an attack on the millions of Nigerians desperate for relief from failed leadership.
Atiku said Nigerians have tested the leadership and the verdict is clear that it is a disaster. In Yoruba culture a calabash of pepper represents hostile leadership while a calabash of honey represents hospitable leadership. The current one is a calabash of pepper.
Tinubu has said Nigeria will never return to subsidised petrol prices. Atiku said that is wrong. By the grace of the Almighty and with the mandate of the Nigerian people he will restore a transparent production based subsidy tied to the local refining of fuel. Nigerians will benefit directly through lower energy costs including the prices of petrol and diesel.
His administration will make deliberate investments in social welfare and end the opaque system the government uses to divert money meant for economically vulnerable Nigerians.
Atiku said the campaign is under attack because it represents an alternative to the hardship imposed on the people. There is a desire to keep him off the ballot at all costs but the will of the Nigerian people will prevail. He will be on that ballot and he will win decisively.
After three and a half years in office there are no achievements to campaign on. The record of failure is the strongest campaign against the incumbent. The Affordable Life campaign will not be silenced by insults or threats. Atiku said he will lead Nigeria back to prosperity growth and development.
