The presidency has launched a counter-attack on the former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar over comments credited to him that he would have done better if he emerged as President in the 2023 general elections.
Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy on Sunday, reacted to Atiku’s statement, saying if he had won he would have plunged Nigeria into economic quagmire than it is today.
Recall that the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 general election, Atiku had reeled out a number of measures he would have adopted to salvage the Nigerian economy.
But Onanuga accused Abubakar of trying to discredit President Tinubu’s economic reform programmes while pushing his untested agenda as a better alternative.
According to the presidential media aide Atiku’s ideas lacked details and were rejected by Nigerians in the 2023 poll.
“If he had won the election, we believe he would have plunged Nigeria into a worse situation or run a regime of cronyism.
“Abubakar lost the election partly because he vowed to sell the NNPC and other assets to his friends. Nigerians have not forgotten this, nor would they be comforted by Atiku’s antecedents when he ran the economy in the first term of President Olusegun Obasanjo’s government between 1999 and 2003,” Onanuga stated.
Criticising Atiku further, Onanuga said the PDP candidate then supervised a questionable privatisation programme. He and his boss demonstrated a lack of faith in our educational system, and both went to establish their universities while they allowed ours to flounder.
The presidential aide said, “Talk is cheap. It is easy to pontificate and deride a rival’s programmes even when there are irrefutable indices that the economic reforms yield positives despite the temporary difficulties.
“Despite the futile attempt to hoodwink Nigerians again in his statement, it is gratifying that the former Vice President could not repudiate the economic reforms pursued by the Tinubu administration because they are the right things to do.
“His advocacy for a gradualist approach only showed that he was not in tune with the enormity of problems inherited by President Tinubu.
“It is so easy to paint a flowery to-do list. It is expected of an election loser.
“President Tinubu met a country facing several grave challenges. Fuel subsidies were siphoning away enormous resources we could ill afford, and there was criminal arbitrage in the forex market.
“No leader worth his name will allow these two economic disorders to persist without moving to end them surgically.
“While advocating for gradual reforms may sound appealing, Tinubu took measures that should have been taken decades ago by Alhaji Abubakar and his boss when they had the opportunity.
“Alhaji Abubakar calls for empathy and a human face to reforms. We have no problem with this as it resonates well with our administration’s focus. President Tinubu has consistently emphasised the need for compassion and protection of the most vulnerable.
“The administration has prioritised social safety nets and targeted support for those affected by recent economic transitions.”
Atiku would have been worse off as Nigeria’s president – Onanuga