Hunger Backlash: President Tinubu, Atiku Throw Mud At Each Other

The feud over growing hunger criticism made President Bola Tinubu and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar trade bitter jabs on Saturday.

President Bola Tinubu had in response to Atiku and others who have criticized his administration over hardship and hunger in the country, accused them of contributing to the problems he inherited.

Speaking during the Rainbow Coalition presidential campaign rally held at the Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on Saturday, President Bola Tinubu said his administration has been busy cleaning up the mess created by those who are criticizing his administration while he directly attacked the former Vice President and accused him of using public fund to build his private university in Yola.

‘Those people talking of hunger, I’m cleaning up the mess they created. Atiku was one of them.

Ask him how he built a university while in office as vice president in charge of our economy. Who built the university for him? It’s your money. It’s your effort’ he said.

He further questioned Atiku’s moral standing to criticize his administration submitting that he lacks the integrity and ethical standards required for public office.

Team@orientactualmags.com learned that Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, who is the ADC presidential candidate, has returned the salvo while clarifying that he had begun the university project in 1993 and not when he served as Vice President between 1999 and 2007.

In a statement issued by his Director of Strategic Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar submitted that President Bola Tinubu has no achievements to campaign on, while promising that the ADC government will show total commitment to its ‘Affordable Life’ agenda if voted into power next year.

 ‘Again, Bola Tinubu has told Nigerians why they should not allow him to continue as president after his first tenure.

He also chose to question my investment in education and ask how I built an educational institution while serving as Vice President.

The answer is simple: my investment in education predates my time in public service. In 1993, while a U.S. court ordered the forfeiture of funds in an account in your name, describing them as proceeds of narcotics trafficking or funds involved in unlawful financial transactions, I was laying the foundation for ABTI Academy. That Academy has since grown into the American University of Nigeria.

That moment captures the difference between us. My history is traceable. I can show Nigerians how I built my name, achieved success in business and entered public leadership. Your own history remains clumsy and foggy. You cannot erase it by attacking my record in education.

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 your government has done.

You say Nigeria cannot return to subsidy and must move forward. But you cannot even tell Nigerians where you are taking them. Forward into deeper poverty, mounting debt, insecurity and mass unemployment?

Since your inauguration in 2023, your leadership has become synonymous with hardship, pain and despair. Your record is a working example of how a country should not be led. You have created poverty on an industrial scale, pushing more than 79 million Nigerians into extreme poverty.

Your campaign’s Director-General says hungry Nigerians are simply lazy. He delivered that statement in grammar so badly constructed it could wake the dead. This government does not even believe Nigerians are hungry. How can you solve a problem you refuse to acknowledge?’ he said.

Likening it to a scenario in Yorubaland where a new king picks up a traditional calabash to foresee his reign, he said President Bola Tinubu had in 2023 chosen the calabash of pepper.

‘You created poverty, then insult the people suffering from it. You attack my Affordable Life campaign, but the people you are really attacking are the millions of Nigerians desperate for relief from your failed leadership.

Bola, Nigerians have tested your leadership. The verdict is clear: you are a disaster. In Yoruba culture, I am told, a calabash of pepper represents hostile leadership, while a calabash of honey represents hospitable leadership. Yours is a calabash of pepper.

You say Nigeria will never return to subsidized petrol prices. You are wrong. By the grace of the Almighty and with the mandate of the Nigerian people, I 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.

My administration will make deliberate investments in social welfare and end the opaque system your government uses to divert money meant for economically vulnerable Nigerians.

You attack my campaign because you know what it represents: an alternative to the hardship you have imposed on the people. You want me off the ballot at all costs, but the will of the Nigerian people will prevail. I will be on that ballot, and I will beat you decisively.

After three and a half years in office, you have no achievements to campaign on. Your own record of failure is the strongest campaign against you. My Affordable Life campaign will not be silenced by your insults or your threats. I will lead Nigeria back to prosperity, growth and development’ the ADC presidential candidate submitted-Team@orientactualmags.com  Do you have any information you wish to share with us? Do you want us to cover your event or programme? Kindly send SMS to 08035023079,  08059100286, 09094171980 or get in touch via orientactualmag@gmail.com.  Thank you