Atiku slams Tinubu Independence Day speech, calling it hollow as Nigerians face rising hunger, poverty and insecurity despite reforms
Atiku slams Tinubu Independence Day speech, calling it detached from reality as millions of Nigerians grapple with hunger, poverty, and insecurity.
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In a sharply worded statement on Wednesday, Phrank Shaibu, Special Assistant on Public Communication to former Vice President Atiku Abubak, criticised President Bola Tinubu’s October 1st address as “a speech filled with statistics butar void of substance.”
“Citizens cannot eat statistics or sleep on PowerPoint slides,” Shaibu said, rejecting the president’s optimistic tone. “True progress is when Nigerians can afford to eat, send their children to school, and sleep without fear.”
President Tinubu, marking Nigeria’s 65th Independence anniversary, had declared that the nation’s worst economic phase was over, claiming his reforms were beginning to bear fruit. He urged Nigerians to remain hopeful and patient.
But Atiku’s camp insists that the figures offered by the president fail to reflect daily realities. Shaibu highlighted rising food prices, unaffordable transport, and worsening insecurity as evidence of continued hardship under the current administration.
“He cited the multiplication of schools since 1960. Yet in many places, pupils still sit on bare floors and write in dust,” Shaibu said.
“He boasted of more hospitals, but patients still carry candles, syringes, and drugs into wards before treatment can begin. A man who builds many huts without roofs has only built shade for goats.”
Atiku slams Tinubu Independence Day speech for painting a rosy picture disconnected from the lives of average Nigerians. The presidential aide also questioned the credibility of social welfare programmes.
“Nigerians ask simply: where?” he said. “If the yam was truly cooked, neighbours would perceive the aroma. Across the land, poverty still walks naked and hunger knocks daily.”
Shaibu said that rather than self-congratulations, the Independence Day celebration should have been an opportunity for sober reflection.
“Resilience must not be mistaken for endorsement,” he said, noting that while Nigerians have survived decades of hardship, many still live in desperate conditions.
“A masquerade does not clap for itself; it is the crowd that cheers when the steps are sweet. Nigerians are not clapping.”
He closed by challenging the administration to show real progress — not in projections or figures — but in the lived experiences of citizens.
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“If this administration is truly laying foundations,” Shaibu said, “let those foundations be seen and felt in affordable food, working schools, reliable power, and secure communities.”
