Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has blamed opposition leaders for Nigeria’s hunger and poverty, accusing them of creating problems they now exploit against his administration.
Speaking at the flag-off of his presidential campaign for the 2027 general elections at Ranchers Bees Stadium in Kaduna in northern Nigeria, said: “I hear my opponents talking about hunger and poverty. Who created it? They did. They created the hunger; they created the poverty. We are trying to eradicate it.
The Presidential Spokesperson Bayo Onanuga said in a statement in Kaduna that Tinubu was directing his accusations at former Nigeria’s Vice-President Atiku Abubakar and other opposition leaders.
The statement recalled that Atiku Abubakar served as vice-president between 1999 and 2007, when several state-owned enterprises were privatized and thousands of the affected workers were reportedly left without their gratuities and pensions following the privatisation exercises.
According to the statement, the Tinubu administration has been paying outstanding entitlements to some of the affected workers.
It added that Tinubu, at the rally, inaugurated the 81km section of the Abuja-Kaduna highway through a symbolic ribbon-cutting ceremony.
He recalled Kaduna’s historical significance as a city of leaders and the former Northern Region’s political headquarters.
Tinubu said that his administration was working to eradicate poverty and thanked Kaduna residents for supporting him in the 2023 presidential election an urged them to renew his mandate in 2027, citing investments in critical economic infrastructure across Kaduna State and the wider Northern region.
Local media reports that the rally was attended by the APC National Chairman, Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, Vice-President, Kashim Shettima, the First Lady of Nigeria, Sen. Oluremi Tinubu and thousands of party supporters.
GIK/APA