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From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has said President Bola Tinubu’s latest attack on him is geared towards diverting attention from the alleged failures of the present administration.
In a statement by the Director of Strategic Communication, ADC Presidential Campaign Council, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku said President Tinubu had no business seeking a second term after his alleged failure in governance.
Speaking at his campaign rally in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, on Saturday, President Tinubu said Nigerians should ask the ADC candidate how he got money to build a university while serving as vice president.
However, the former vice president explained that his investment in education predates his time in public office, noting that he can show Nigerians how he achieved success in business.
According to him: “Again, (President) 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.”
Atiku added: “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.
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“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?
“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.”
The ADC candidate promised that, if elected president, he would restore a transparent, production-based subsidy tied to the local refining of fuel, so that Nigerians would 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,” he stated.
