….Says Current Administration Is Marked By Renewed Hardship, Insecurity, Poverty
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and Presidential Candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has said that the three years’ administration of President Bola Tinubu is marked by renewed hardship, renewed insecurity, renewed poverty and renewed hopelessness.
Atiku stated that the President’s report card was written in hunger, poverty and the tears of abducted children, stressing that the era of political complacency, propaganda, and governance by deception is drawing to a close, stating that Nigerians have seen enough and are preparing to reclaim their country through the power of the ballot.
In a statement on Friday issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku said that as the Tinubu administration marks three years in office, its most fitting report card is not the glossy advertisements, expensive media campaigns, or self-congratulatory speeches emanating from Abuja, but the tears of hungry families, the despair of unemployed youths, the collapse of businesses, and the haunting images of schoolchildren being abducted by criminals while a complacent government looks the other way.
According to Atiku, every government is entitled to its own opinions, but no government is entitled to its own facts.
“The facts are stubborn and unforgiving. Three years ago, President Tinubu promised renewed hope. What Nigerians have received instead is renewed hardship, renewed insecurity, renewed poverty, and renewed hopelessness.
“Today, millions of Nigerians can no longer afford the basic necessities of life. Food prices have skyrocketed beyond the reach of ordinary families. Inflation has become a cruel tax on the poor. Small and medium-scale businesses are shutting their doors. Investors are fleeing uncertainty. The naira has been battered. Purchasing power has collapsed.
“Never in recent history have so many Nigerians worked so hard only to become poorer. Never has a government celebrated itself so loudly while its citizens suffered so deeply.
“While Nigerians endure the worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation, this administration continues to manufacture statistics, stage elaborate ceremonies, and engage in endless public relations exercises designed to create the illusion of progress where none exists.
“What makes this failure even more scandalous is the reckless borrowing that has accompanied it. This administration has borrowed trillions of naira in the name of infrastructure and economic development, yet Nigerians cannot see corresponding improvements in their daily lives.
“Public reports indicate that while the Federal Government borrowed approximately N11.9 trillion within a nine-month period, only N3.1 trillion was reportedly spent on capital projects. Nigerians are therefore entitled to ask a simple question: where did the rest of the money go?
“Even more troubling is that a substantial portion of the infrastructure spending that has been publicly highlighted appears concentrated on projects such as the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway and the Badagry-Sokoto Highway, both awarded to a company owned by a businessman whom President Tinubu publicly described as his ‘partner in daring.’
“This administration has created the disturbing perception that while ordinary Nigerians are being asked to endure sacrifice, the benefits of government spending are increasingly flowing towards a privileged circle of politically connected interests.”
“A government that borrows trillions but cannot transparently account for the impact of those borrowings on the lives of its citizens has no business celebrating itself. Nigerians are not interested in debt accumulation. They’re interested in the results.”
Atiku said perhaps the most damning indictment of the Tinubu administration’s three-year record is the resurgence of mass abductions and the growing sense that the Nigerian state is steadily losing its monopoly over security.
“While government officials celebrate themselves and distribute scorecards, terrorists and criminal gangs are distributing fear across the country.
“The recent abduction of schoolchildren in Borno State and the mass kidnapping of pupils and teachers in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State are not isolated incidents. They are the most accurate report cards of this administration after three years in office.
“What greater evidence of failure can there be than parents sending their children to school only to receive news that they’ve been abducted? What greater symbol of government failure exists than classrooms becoming hunting grounds for criminals?”
