The Tinubu Media Support Group (TMSG) has described the projection by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of a looming hunger-induced revolution in Nigeria as delusional, reckless wishful thinking and the limitless hallucinations of a power-monger.
In a statement signed by its Chairman Emeka Nwankpa and Secretary Dapo Okubanjo, TMSG argued that it was shameful and shocking to see a former Vice President paint a doomsday picture of Nigerians dying of hunger.
It said: “Like many Nigerians, we were shocked and alarmed to see a statement in the name of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar projecting a looming revolution based on what he described as an increasing spate of hunger among underprivileged Nigerians after two years of the President Bola Tinubu administration.
”We find Atiku’s claim of severe hunger in the country as an outright lie at a time when prices of food items are dropping in response to the government’s effective economic policies.
”It is somewhat Ironic that the former Vice President was painting a damning picture of economic inactivity at a time the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed that headline inflation had declined for a fifth consecutive month in August.
”For us, it looks like Atiku and his co-travellers, in a fit of hallucination, simply painted a scenario in their heads and put it in the public space in a bid to incite Nigerians and provoke emotional reactions close to what instigated disturbances in non-nearby Nepal that led to a financial loss estimated at half of the country’s GDP in about 48 hours.
”While we acknowledge that a cost-of-living crisis erupted in the aftermath of the shock therapy of the removal of the ruinous fuel subsidy in May 2023, it is increasingly obvious that the country is in a better place economically as attested to by many credible international agencies.
”We are also aware of several initiatives targeted at ramping up food production nationwide while poverty alleviation measures are gradually taking root.
”But it should not surprise too many people if opposition elements like the former Vice President pretend to be unaware of recent economic strides, including the quantum month-on-month drop in headline inflation, because of the need to play politics.”
The group added that the former Vice President, by virtue of what he had benefited from the nation, owes Nigerians a sacred duty to behave responsibly and circumspectly in his interventions on national issues even as an opposition politician..
”We believe that the onus is on him to know when to draw the line as an elder statesman who has had the honour of being a Vice President for 8 years, during which he was a heartbeat away from assuming the office of the President.
”As a politician who is set to make a bizarre 7th appearance as a presidential aspirant in a country of over 230 million people already tired of seeing his face on the ballot, it may not be out of place for him to always demarket the man he wants to unseat but we wonder how he would benefit from inciting the citizenry with questionable narratives.
”We recall that Atiku Abubakar once said at a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) stakeholders conference in 2010 that violence was inevitable if the party dropped its zoning arrangement to hand the presidential ticket to the then President Goodluck Jonathan.
“His exact words at ThisDay Dome, Abuja that made headlines the following day were, ‘Let me again send another message to the leadership of PDP that those who make peaceful change impossible, make violent change inevitable.’
”He was also known to have said emphatically in the Buhari years that ‘killings by herdsmen will continue and ultimately spark a series of ethno-religious crises that will be irreversible’ if President Buhari gets a second term.
”This is a portrait of a man desperate for power and who would resort to unthinkable means to grab power. This is why we believe the former Vice President needs to be measured in his speeches or statements issued in his name in order not to be seen as an anarchist,” the statement noted.
TMSG urged Nigerians to ignore Atiku Abubakar’s ploys to instigate them against a government that has successfully stabilised the economy and is assiduously working hard to put the country on the path of sustainable growth and development.
