Lagos, Nigeria: on Friday, July 31, 2026, Nigeria’s former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, criticized Nigeria’s President, Bola Tinubu, for attributing the country’s economic difficulties to previous administrations.
Okay News reports that the statement was issued by Phrank Shaibu, the Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication for the African Democratic Congress presidential candidate, stating that the Nigerian public requires problem solvers rather than explanations of past issues.
Abubakar stated that an administration pointing at past governments more than three years into its tenure demonstrates a lack of ideas. “The constitution did not swear President Tinubu into office to explain history. It swore him into office to change it. Every administration inherits problems. Great leaders are remembered for solving them, not for endlessly rehearsing them,” he said.
The response followed a recent claim by Tinubu that prosperity is approaching and the quality of life is improving. “Mr President says prosperity is on the horizon. Nigerians are asking, ‘Whose horizon?’ Certainly not that of the market woman whose capital has been wiped out by inflation. Not that of the civil servant whose salary now expires before the month begins,” Abubakar said.
Abubakar addressed Tinubu’s references to the economic development of China. “China did not become an economic superpower by complaining about the size of its population. It became prosperous because visionary leadership transformed that population into its greatest economic asset through sustained investment in manufacturing, infrastructure, education, technology, and export-led industrialisation,” he said.
Abubakar requested that the president step away from official briefings to engage with citizens and stated that earlier hardships do not justify current conditions. “Nobody ‘elected’ Tinubu to eliminate the hunger of 1940. Nigerians ‘elected’ him to confront the hunger of today. The fact that previous generations endured hardship is not a licence to deepen the suffering of the present generation,” he said.
