Former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, former Rivers State governor, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, former Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai and the Emir of Kano, Muhammad Sanusi II, have called out the administration of President Bola Tinubu as ill-equipped and insensitive to the plight of Nigerians.
They spoke separately during a public lecture titled, “Weaponisation of poverty as a means of underdevelopment: A case study of Nigeria, held in Abuja at the weekend to mark the 60th Birthday celebration of Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi.
While Atiku insists that hunger and poverty have been deliberately deployed by the government of the day to control the masses, Amaechi blames the state of the nation’s economy to a lack of capacity by the Tinubu-led government, El-Rufai called it a government of urban bandits while Emir Sanusi called for a concerted effort to get Nigeria out of it’s crisis of poverty.
Speaking at the lecture, Atiku berated the Tinubu administration for deliberately weaponising poverty against the masses in an unprecedented manner, hence the resolve of the ‘coalition’ to prevent Tinubu from returning to the helm of affairs in 2027.
“This particular government is weaponising poverty. You may call me a conspirator, you may call me anything, and that is why we are in this alliance to make sure we don’t allow them to continue weaponising poverty.”
Atiku recalled growing up in the North, and how people were never seen sleeping outside, in the streets of its most prosperous city, Kano, but many are now forced to sleep outside due to rising poverty.
“I never saw people sleeping outside or outside the shops in Kano State, but recently, I saw that people were all over the state sleeping under the bridge or on the streets. These people are driven out by poverty and insecurity.
“There is a state agency in Kano responsible for providing support to such people, and they started doing their work, enlightening people and removing people from under the bridges and outside on the streets. What happened? They were called to Abuja, and they were told to stop it. That is why I said the topic of today should have been amended to add ‘State Weaponisation of Poverty,” Atiku said.
The celebrant, Amaech, I said his refusal to support or vote for Tinubu was based on his belief that the current president was not the right man for the job. He noted that the lack of capacity has kept Nigerians in a worsening state of hunger.
“I met President Tinubu in Yola, and I told him in advance that I will not work for him or vote for him, because I was convinced there was an issue of capacity.
“The government said it had stopped the payment of about N5 trillion in fuel subsidy, right? The question is, what did they do with the money? If they had put it back into the economy, the issue of poverty would have reduced. The last administration was hedging the naira, now you’ve stopped, where is the savings?
“If I were President, yes, some of the policies they are pursuing, I would have pursued them, but the failure lies in the fact that the gains of these policies are in their private pockets.”
Amaechi also expressed his willingness to work with the opposition to bring change to the polity and ensure good governance while urging the masses to look inwards as the power lies in the hands.
The elites are not the problems of Nigeria, rather the problem is the followership. We want to submit to the opposition if the opposition can lead us out of this problem, and for this to happen, we must all agree to work together in the interest of the nation and not for ourselves,” Amaechi stated.
On his part, El Rufai noted that while the weaponisation of poverty by the current administration may not be deliberate, the country had been thrown into its biggest crisis since 1914, as ‘urban bandits’ are now at the helm of governance.
“Poverty weaponises itself if allowed to exist. This is what has happened in Nigeria. I believe the problem is that we get incompetent people and hand over leadership to them. They don’t know what to do. They just know how to grab power but don’t know how to use it.
“What we have in this country is to allow bandits, not the ones in the bushes, but the urban bandits to take over the governance of our country.
“I think the key challenge for Nigerians in 2027 is to look at those who are offering themselves for leadership, and pick those who have the competence, capability, capacity, and commitment to move Nigeria forward.”
The former Kaduna governor expressed confidence in Rotimi Amaechi as, “one of the few whom one can call capable, competent and committed. I visited Rivers State several times when Amaechi was governor. I could see examples of policies that were addressing the concerns of the people. From schools to primary health care centres, hospitals, and so on. It was very clear that he had an opportunity, he knew what to do, and he did it,” El Rufai said.
Emir Sanusi noted that Nigeria is in a crisis of poverty, and getting out of it should be the focus of everyone that cares. He urged Nigerian leaders to imbibe empathy while executing their leadership responsibilities.
“Many of the elite in Nigeria do not know what poverty is. As an economist, former CBN Governor, I see the numbers. I did not know poverty until I became Emir. And you go to the villages and see the water they drink, the houses they live in, the two-block classrooms without roofs.
“Do we actually love the people or do we just love ruling over them? What are our priorities? We make overheads and underpasses for ourselves in the cities, while the people in the rural areas cannot reach hospitals. We are in crisis, how do we get out should be our focus,” he stated.