By Staff Reporter.
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has criticised President Bola Ahmed Tinubu over his reported three-week trip to Europe, accusing the President of abandoning the country at a time of severe economic hardship and insecurity.
Atiku, in a statement, said Nigeria might not be facing a constitutional vacuum, but was experiencing what he described as a “disturbing vacuum of political leadership.”
The former vice president said the President’s decision to travel abroad was difficult to understand given the challenges confronting millions of Nigerians.
According to him, petrol prices remain beyond the reach of many citizens, families are struggling to afford food, transport fares have risen sharply, while insecurity continues to claim lives across the country.
“Consider what Bola Tinubu is leaving behind. Petrol priced beyond the reach of ordinary people. Families rationing food. Transport fares that have turned a journey to one’s own village into a luxury. Insecurity that buries Nigerians week after week,” Atiku said.
He added that the situation was made more troubling by the fact that Vice President Kashim Shettima was also outside the country on official duty.
Atiku argued that leadership was not simply about occupying a constitutional office but also about exercising sound judgment and knowing when the country required the President’s presence.
“Leadership is not merely the constitutional right to occupy an office; it is the judgment to know when your country needs you at home,” he said.
Using a family analogy, Atiku said a father would not leave home when his family was facing an emergency.
“A father may travel when all is well. But when his roof is burning and his family is trapped inside, he does not pick up his suitcase and head for the airport,” he said.
The former vice president stressed that his criticism was not based on the argument that a president should never travel or take a break, but on what he described as the severity of Nigeria’s current circumstances.
“It is that Nigeria is burning, and the President has chosen a boarding pass over the fire extinguisher,” Atiku said.
He further accused the administration of being disconnected from the economic realities facing ordinary Nigerians.
“Millions of Nigerians are being grounded by hardship while their President is airborne. The people can barely afford to move, but the President keeps moving,” he said.
Atiku concluded by accusing the Tinubu administration of making life more expensive for Nigerians and promised a different approach if given the opportunity to govern.
“Tinubu made Nigeria expensive. I will make Nigeria affordable again,” he said.
