- Safiu Kehinde
The 2027 African Democratic Congress Presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has faulted President Bola Tinubu’s Independence Day speech as he held that the purported treatment administered by the All Progressives Congress-led administration in addressing Nigeria’s socio-economic challenges is not working.
NPO Reported that Tinubu had in a nationwide broadcast delivered in the early hours of Thursday in commemoration of the 66th Independence Day anniversary defended the reforms introduced by his administration.
Tinubu described Nigeria as a cancer patient who had over the years been administered morphine and other pain relief which failed to permanently eradicate the illness.
The president described his economic reforms as the lasting treatment to ailment.
Reacting in a broadcast message delivered from the ADC’s National Headquarters in Abuja, Atiku held that Tinubu’s treatment is not working as the purported patient cannot afford to live due to economic hardship.
He further faulted Tinubu’s portrayal of himself being novice to the APC’s eight years administration under late President Muhammadu Buhari.
‘Bola, you call Nigeria a patient with cancer. After three years of your treatment, why is it harder for Nigerians to buy food, pay for medicine or even get to work?
‘Why does your government have more money while the people can afford less?
‘You say Nigerians must endure the pain because you are curing the disease. But when a patient cries out, a doctor listens.
‘He does not call the patient “regressive” for asking when he will get better.
‘He does not point to the hospital’s rising revenue and declare him healed. A patient who cannot afford to live is not proof that the treatment is working.
‘And you cannot speak as though you arrived from the moon in 2023. Your party had governed Nigeria for eight years.
‘If the country was as sick as you say, tell Nigerians what responsibility your party bears for its condition.’ He said.
Prior to that, Atiku accused Tinubu of plunging Nigeria into the most severe cost of living crisis.
He accused Tinubu of having nothing to show with his fuel subsidy removal, stressing that the reform had made cost of transportation and food unbearable while the government enriches itself with the benefits of the subsidy.
‘The past three years under Bola Tinubu have plunged Nigeria into the most severe cost of living crisis in our history. Families are not merely tightening their belts.
‘They are skipping meals, delaying treatment and borrowing to survive until payday.
‘And what has this government asked of them? More patience. More sacrifice. More faith in figures they cannot eat.
‘While Nigerians are lectured about hardship, those in power preside over brazen waste, corruption and a budget process that makes a mockery of fiscal discipline.
‘The people are told there is no money to ease their pain, yet government always seems to find money for its own appetites.
‘Tinubu removed the fuel subsidy with one announcement and no credible protection in place for the families who would bear the shock.
‘Petrol, transport and the cost of moving food rose. He promised that the savings would benefit Nigerians. Three years later, the pain has an address in every home. Bola, where is the benefit?’ He asked.
The former Vice President also decried the level of insecurity in the country, adding that the Tinubu-led administration has failed to make life affordable and safe for Nigeria.
‘And beyond the market, our nation is bleeding. Armed groups have killed thousands and driven families from their communities. Farmers fear their fields.
‘Parents fear for children in their classrooms. Families dread the call demanding ransom for someone they love. A government that cannot make life affordable and cannot protect life has failed the two tests that matter most to its people.
‘This is not the Nigeria our founders struggled to set free. But I will not ask you to surrender to despair.
Despair is not a strategy. We have a path to recovery, and we must take it.
‘Today, Bola Tinubu told us that the “emergency treatment is over” and the “age of prosperity” has begun. A President may announce a new chapter in a speech. He cannot announce food onto a family’s table or money into a worker’s pocket.’ He said.
Atiku also questioned Tinubu’s prosperity claims, stressing that they do not reflect in the homes of the average Nigerian family.
‘Bola, where is this prosperity?
‘Bola says inflation has fallen. A slower rise in prices does not restore what families have lost. He cites growth and rising exports.
‘Nigerian businesses deserve credit for what they have achieved. But growth must improve lives. It cannot be a certificate of success that government awards itself while citizens struggle to survive.’ He said.
