From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has said President Bola Tinubu is allegedly gloating over the hardship confronting Nigerians following the removal of fuel subsidy on May 29,2023.
Atiku, who is also a former Vice President, said the President’s boast of removing fuel subsidy on his first day in office is akin to gloating over the misery of the citizens.
President Tinubu, while speaking at an event, on Monday, had reportedly said he had no regret removing fuel subsidy, stating that asking for a return of subsidy is like asking the biblical Moses to return to Egypt.
However, Atiku, in a statement by Director of Strategic Communication, ADC Presidential Campaign Council, Phrank Shaibu, said President Tinubu’s comparison of fuel subsidy relief to asking Moses to return to Egypt exposes how little he understands the suffering of Nigerians.
The former Vice President noted that President Tinubu is the “Egypt Nigerians are desperate to escape. You celebrate the day you made fuel more expensive, then lecture families struggling to pay for food and transport about why they must never go back.”
According to him, “at least Pharaoh knew he was holding people captive. Tinubu watches families cut meals, workers spend their salaries on transport and businesses struggle to keep their lights on, then tells them a story about Moses. He may quote scripture, but he governs like Pharaoh, Herod and Ahab combined: deaf to the cries of the people, proud of the hardship he has imposed and convinced that power excuses him from answering for it.
“A mother trying to feed her children cannot pay for food with a metaphor. A worker cannot get to work on a story about the Red Sea. Nigerians are asking how you intend to make life affordable. Answer them.”
Atiku, who reiterated that if voted as President, he would make life affordable again through practical relief, explained that his fuel subsidy proposal is intended to ” give limited, budgeted support only to verified petroleum products refined in Nigeria and sold to Nigerians. Imported fuel gets nothing. Independent auditors must track every naira, and the benefit must reach consumers in the price they pay. If it does not lower that price, it has failed its purpose.”
Furthermore, the former Vice President stated that ” hardship is not the only captivity Nigerians face. Tinubu’s failure on security cannot be buried under Buhari’s record. He asked Nigerians for the presidency knowing that communities were under attack, families were paying ransom and children were afraid to travel to school.
“He took the oath to protect them. Yet his own campaign Director-General asks, ‘What do you expect Tinubu to do when even Buhari, a general, could not wipe out insecurity?’ Let me remind them that President Yar’Adua was not a sergeant, yet he stamped it out.
“Nigerians expect their President to confront the killers, rescue the abducted and make it possible to travel, farm, work and sleep without fear. If Tinubu cannot tell them how he will do that after more than three years in office, he has no business asking for four more years. The lives lost under his watch are not an argument about his predecessor. They are an indictment of his own leadership.
“And look at what Tinubu asks of the officers sent to protect us. A retired Assistant Superintendent told me he receives ₦29,000 a month. Serving officers are drawing down their pension savings to feed their families. How can a President demand courage from police officers in the field while leaving them worried about food at home and destitution in retirement?
“Stop pointing to Egypt as though it lies behind us. For millions of Nigerians, Egypt is the hunger, fear and indignity they are living through under you. They deserve affordable fuel, safe communities and police officers who can serve without sacrificing their families’ future. Tinubu made life expensive. I will make life affordable again,” Atiku stated.
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