Former Vice President and 2027 presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has criticised President Bola Tinubu’s administration, declaring that the government’s three-year report card was “written in hunger, poverty, and the tears of abducted children.”
Atiku said Nigerians were growing tired of what he described as “governance by propaganda” and warned that citizens were preparing to reclaim the country through the ballot box.
LEADERSHIP reports that President Tinubu, who assumed office on May 29, 2023, marks his third anniversary in office this Friday, May 29, 2026.
However, in a statement issued on Friday by Atiku’s Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, the former Vice President said the Tinubu administration’s legacy after three years in office was not reflected in government advertisements or official ceremonies, but in the hardship being experienced across the country.
“As the Tinubu administration marks three years in office, its most fitting report card is not the glossy advertisements, expensive media campaigns, or self-congratulatory speeches emanating from Abuja, but the tears of hungry families, the despair of unemployed youths, the collapse of businesses, and the haunting images of schoolchildren being abducted by criminals while a complacent government looks the other way,” Atiku said.
He accused the administration of failing to deliver on its promise of ‘renewed hope’, arguing that Nigerians were instead facing worsening economic conditions and insecurity.
“The facts are stubborn and unforgiving. Three years ago, President Tinubu promised renewed hope. What Nigerians have received instead is renewed hardship, renewed insecurity, renewed poverty, and renewed hopelessness,” he stated.
According to Atiku, inflation and the rising cost of living had pushed millions of Nigerians into deeper hardship, while businesses continued to shut down under economic pressure.
“Today, millions of Nigerians can no longer afford the basic necessities of life. Food prices have skyrocketed beyond the reach of ordinary families. Inflation has become a cruel tax on the poor. Small and medium-scale businesses are shutting their doors. Investors are fleeing uncertainty. The naira has been battered. Purchasing power has collapsed,” he said.
The ADC presidential candidate further accused the government of prioritising public relations over governance.
