Vice President Atiku Abubakar, on Saturday, November 7, practically descended on President Bola Tinubu over his remarks on investment in education, saying he laid the foundation of his educational institution in 1993 when the president reportedly forfeited $460,000 in the United States.
Tinubu, at a rally in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, accused Atiku of using public funds to establish a private university while serving under former President Olusegun Obasanjo while also criticising the former vice president over his record in government.
However, reacting to the president’s comment, Atiku, through his Director of Strategic Communication, Phrank Shaibu, described it as a desperate attempt to distract Nigerians from the failure of his administration.
Atiku said: “Again, 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 US 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.
“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.
“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.
“Bola, Nigerians have tested your leadership. The verdict is clear: you are a disaster. In Yoruba culture, I am told, a calabash of pepper represents hostile leadership, while a calabash of honey represents hospitable leadership. Yours is a calabash of pepper.
“You say Nigeria will never return to subsidised petrol prices. You are wrong. By the grace of the Almighty and with the mandate of the Nigerian people, I will restore a transparent, production-based subsidy tied to the local refining of fuel. Nigerians will 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.”
