- Atiku Abubakar has fired back at President Tinubu after the president accused the opposition of stoking hunger in Nigeria
- The former vice president raised pointed questions about the naira's collapse, NNPC spending and a $12.4bn gap in Nigeria's external accounts
- Atiku's statement, issued through his ADC campaign team, frames the 2027 election as a direct referendum on Tinubu's economic record
Abuja, FCT - Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has strongly rejected President Bola Tinubu's suggestion that the opposition bears responsibility for the economic hardship gripping Nigeria, calling the claim delusional and an attempt to evade accountability for policies enacted under his own watch.
In a statement dated 24 October 2026, signed by Phrank Shaibu, Director of Strategic Communication of the ADC Presidential Campaign Council, Atiku launched a pointed counterattack, insisting that Tinubu cannot distance himself from the consequences of his administration's decisions.
"Mr President, blaming the opposition for hunger is either delusion or a staggering case of political amnesia," Atiku said. "The APC governed Nigeria for eight years before you 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."
Atiku also criticised the president's attendance at the commissioning ceremony of the Abuja-Kaduna Expressway, which he described as still unfinished, arguing that Tinubu's conduct illustrated how disconnected the presidency had become from ordinary Nigerians.
The former presidential candidate directed a series of sharp questions at the administration, asking which government oversaw the naira's decline from approximately ₦471 to ₦1,329 against the dollar, and which presided over a rise in poverty severe enough for the World Bank to project that 63 per cent of Nigerians would fall below the national poverty line by 2026.
He also raised concerns about fiscal management, questioning how the administration simultaneously operated an extended 2024 budget and a separate 2025 budget, and demanding answers over ₦7.13 trillion recorded under "energy security" in 2024, alongside questions about ₦11.2 trillion in NNPC pipeline-related spending.
Further queries centred on a $12.4 billion discrepancy flagged in Nigeria's external accounts for the first half of 2026 and $22.5 million listed as "other charges" on the Abu Dhabi financing facility.
On security, Atiku said killings, kidnappings and community displacement remained unresolved while the government looked for others to blame.
"You cannot govern for three years, make life harder, and then blame others for describing the hardship," he said. "You asked who created the hunger. Nigerians are asking what you have done to end it."
Atiku concluded by framing the 2027 presidential election as a direct verdict on Tinubu's tenure, asserting that citizens would judge the government by the realities in their homes and markets rather than by statements made at political rallies. "Their verdict is already clear: they have rejected your administration," he said.
Source: Legit.ng