Inflation/Unemployment: Why Atiku cannot exculpate himself from the rot in Nigeria ─Presidency

*The Presidency has averred that former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar is part of the rot Nigeria has become, saying ‘he cannot exculpate himself; he cannot sit in judgement over anybody’

Alexander Davis | ConsumerConnect

In what could be described as a case of ‘the pot calling the kettle black’, the Nigerian Presidency has hit back at former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, over his recent comment that President Muhammadu Buhari lacks the capacity to govern the most populous country in Africa.

Mr. Femi Adesina, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, while featuring on a Channels TV programme Sunday, March 28 said ex-Vice-President Abubakar is part of the rot of the country.

According to the Presidency, Atiku cannot “wash himself clean of what Nigeria has become.”

It is noted that Atiku, who was presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in 2019, had said under the current administration, Nigeria is heading to a failed state.

The former Vice-President contended that the level of unemployment is unprecedented stated since Buhari lacks the capacity to govern the country, Nigerians must help the government to save themselves.

Adesina, however, said: “You will recall that in the build-up to the 2015 elections, when the APC (All Progressives Congress) was campaigning, the figure that was used by then candidate Buhari was that a minimum of 30 million Nigerians were unemployed, particularly youths and that his government was going to do something about it.

“That was in 2014/2015. So, don’t make it appear like a genie that just came out of the bottle. No, it had always been there. It had always been there.

The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity further said: “The former Vice-President was in power for eight years. Now, he is in the opposition. You can’t take whatever he says as the gospel.

Mr. Femi Adesina, Special Adviser to President Buhari on Media and Publicity

“The question is when former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar was in government with President Olusegun Obasanjo, where did they take the country?

“Where did they leave the country? I have seen clips on social media where he said some things they promised to do, particularly on power; some people collected some trillions and didn’t deliver… Former Vice-President is part of the rot this country became.

According to him, “he cannot exculpate himself; he cannot sit in judgement over anybody.

“He played his part for eight years and they left the country where they left it. He cannot like Pontius Pilate, begin to wash himself clean of what Nigeria has become.”

Meanwhile, Adesina has urged Nigerians to stop dwelling solely on the negatives if the country is to forge ahead in the progressive path in the comity of nations.

He assured that there are silver linings in the sky, stressing that it is typical of Nigeria that when the break in the clouds come, no one talks about them.

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