The Presidency has responded to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s criticism of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s economic policies.
Atiku, who lost the 2023 presidential election to Tinubu, described the current administration’s approach as “trial-and-error” and “palliative economy,” arguing that implementing multiple reforms simultaneously would be “overkill”.
Atiku suggested that his administration would have taken a more gradual approach to subsidy removal, citing examples from Malaysia and Indonesia.
However, the Special Adviser to President Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, countered that Atiku’s ideas lacked detail and were rejected by Nigerians in the 2023 polls. Onanuga also warned that an Atiku-led administration would have plunged Nigeria into a worse situation or resulted in cronyism.
The Special Adviser to the President on Social Media, Dada Olusegun, dismissed Atiku’s criticism, saying, “You weren’t elected, Alhaji. You can’t even unite your party with only 13 governors. You can’t provide proper leadership to be considered a serious opposition.”
Recall that Atiku had previously criticized Tinubu’s economic policies, arguing that they have dashed hopes, caused pain, and more suffering among the population. Specifically, he took issue with the simultaneous implementation of exchange rate, electricity tariff, and petrol price adjustments,
