By Ayodele Oni
Ahead of the 2027 election, President Bola Tinubu’s camp and that of the former Vice President Atiku Abubakar are engaged in brickbats over privatization of some public ventures.
Tinubu will be seeking a reelection on the ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC), while Atiku is working to secure the ticket of the opposition African Democratic Congress (ADC), to contest for the Presidency.
President Tinubu had mocked Atiku who was the Head of Privatization Council during the Government of President Olusegun Obasanjo.
“No one among them (coalition leaders) is without history. The head (Atiku) was the Chairman of the privatization council of Nigeria at one time.
“They privatized the steel industry in Delta, is it working today? They privatized Ajaokuta, is it working today? They privatized another man’s political party; that one says no.”
In a response, Atiku flayed the remark by Tinubu that he is privatising the African Democratic Congress (ADC) despite its ongoing leadership crisis.
In a statement issued on Friday, by Phrank Shaibu, his media aide, Atiku claimed that it is not his fault that the President cannot read.
According to the ADC Chieftain, Tinubu’s recent remarks can be described as a “reckless tirade” that exposes “a troubling pattern of hypocrisy and historical amnesia.”
He also expressed concerns that a President who has been confronted with countless questions over his own credentials would attempt to discredit others with well-documented records of academic and 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,” Shiabu said.
He further described Tinubu’s criticism of the former Vice President as one which collapses under scrutiny.
Also stating that the President is currently implementing key reforms which had initially been rejected, Atiku accused the Tinubu administration of 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.
“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.
“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,” Atiku said.
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