Atiku Abubakar dismissed President Tinubu’s Independence Day speech as empty rhetoric, saying Nigerians remain hungry, insecure, and burdened by hardship
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has strongly criticized President Bola Tinubu’s Independence Day address, dismissing the president’s claims of progress as disconnected from reality. Responding through his Special Assistant on Public Communications, Phrank Shuaibu, Atiku said: “The pot is not only empty but cracked — and the people remain hungry.”
Tinubu had spoken of “turning the corner” with achievements in education, healthcare, the economy, and security. But Atiku countered, noting that while schools have multiplied, “pupils still sit on bare floors” and teachers’ wages cannot buy food. He argued that hospitals remain ill-equipped, adding, “A man who builds many huts without roofs has only built shade for goats.”
On the economy, Atiku said reforms have left families eating “less than one meal a day,” while insecurity persists despite government claims. Citing the recent killing of Arise TV anchor Somtochukwu, he said Nigerians “still sleep with one eye open.”