By Oluyomi Ajayi.
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has launched a blistering counterattack on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, accusing him of hypocrisy, historical distortion, and political desperation.
In a statement issued on his behalf by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku described Tinubu’s recent remarks as a “reckless tirade” that exposes “a troubling pattern of hypocrisy and historical amnesia.”
The former Vice President expressed astonishment that a President who has faced persistent questions over his own credentials would attempt to discredit others with well-documented records of public service.
“Atiku Abubakar’s attention has been drawn to the latest reckless tirade by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu—a performance that exposes not just desperation, but a troubling pattern of hypocrisy and historical amnesia,” the statement read.
On the contentious issue of privatisation, Atiku’s camp said Tinubu’s criticism collapses under scrutiny, recalling that the President had previously opposed the very reforms he now appears to be implementing.
According to the statement, Atiku had long advocated the privatisation of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the sale of refineries to credible private investors—a position Tinubu reportedly resisted at the time.
However, the statement argued that the current administration is now presiding over a system that has effectively commercialised the national oil company “in opacity—without clear valuation, without transparency, and with lingering questions about who truly benefits.”
“This is not reform; it is privatisation without accountability,” the statement declared.
The response further defended Atiku’s role in Nigeria’s economic reforms, citing several companies as evidence of the success of the privatisation programme he supervised. These include Oando Plc (formerly Unipetrol), Conoil Plc, African Petroleum (now Ardova Plc), Indorama Eleme Petrochemicals, Benue Cement Company, and Transcorp Hilton Abuja, all described as enduring testaments to policies that unlocked value and revived struggling state enterprises.
The statement then took a direct swipe at the President’s intellectual posture, noting that his comments betray a failure to engage even the most basic documented history of Nigeria’s economic reforms.
“It is not our fault that the President does not and can not read, because Bola Tinubu has a history of attending a school in Lagos two years before it was founded, upon which he claimed his crooked Chicago State University degree.” The statement said pointedly. “If he were properly educated he would have acquainted himself with the privatisation records in the presidency or the painstaking account of these reforms as captured by Mallam Nasir El-Rufai in The Accidental Public Servant, where the privatisation programme was clearly documented as a bold and structured effort to dismantle inefficiency and drive private sector-led growth.”
It added that Tinubu’s remarks could only have been made in ignorance of facts already laid bare in public records and credible accounts.
“You cannot oppose reform when it demands courage and then execute a shadow version of it in power,” the statement added.
Atiku’s camp further criticised the tone of Tinubu’s remarks, saying the President’s resort to mockery reflects a deeper leadership problem.
“The President’s attempt to reduce a serious economic legacy to playground ridicule only underscores a deeper problem: a leadership more comfortable with insults than with facts,” the statement said.
More fundamentally, the President’s comments only draw attention to the grim reality Nigerians live with daily under this administration.
” Across the country, families are skipping meals, businesses are shutting their doors, and hardworking citizens are watching their incomes evaporate under the weight of relentless inflation and a collapsing purchasing power. The cost of living has become unbearable, insecurity continues to stalk communities, and hope is steadily giving way to despair. What has been marketed as reform has translated into hardship without relief—policies that bite harder each day while offering no clear path to recovery. This is the true state of the nation, and no amount of rhetoric can mask the pain etched into the lives of ordinary Nigerians.”
It concluded by asserting that Atiku’s record remains “clear, documented, and defensible,” while noting that “persistent public concerns” about the President’s identity, age, and academic history remain unresolved.
“A leader who has not fully resolved questions about his own background should exercise restraint before casting aspersions on others,” the statement added.
The statement ended with a cautionary note: “Nigerians are watching.”
