African Democratic Congress (ADC) 2027 presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar has rejected the stance by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) that disclosing President Bola Tinubu’s record in the United States (US) would endanger lives.
Atiku, who is also a former Vice President, in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, on Saturday, said Nigerians are already dying under the present administration in the country.
The former Vice President noted that since President Tinubu’s assumption of office on May 29, 2023, he has initiated economic policies that have allegedly become a threat to the daily survival of ordinary Nigerians.
The FBI had reportedly told a US Court that disclosing records relating to the president could endanger lives.
Atiku, while disagreeing with the US security agency, noted that “the FBI says disclosure could endanger lives. Which lives? Nigerians are already dying.
“In the past three and a half years since Tinubu became Nigeria’s President, he has pursued economic policies that have made his government a threat to the daily survival of ordinary Nigerians.
“Many have been killed by terrorists and bandits. Many more have died amid hunger, inability to pay medical bills and the crushing emotional and economic pressure of being unable to provide food, shelter and basic necessities for their families.
“Families that once managed three meals now struggle for one. Parents cannot afford medicines for sick children. Breadwinners are buckling under debt and unbearable economic pressure. This is the human cost of Tinubu’s senseless removal of fuel subsidy without a credible plan to protect ordinary Nigerians.
“Danger to life is therefore not a legal abstraction to Nigerians. It is a daily reality in our homes, hospitals, farms, highways and communities.”
The ADC candidate added that “and this is precisely why the return of fuel subsidy under my watch is not negotiable. I will not apologise for choosing the survival of Nigerians over economic dogma.
“The subsidy I propose will be targeted, transparently financed, capped and independently audited, with safeguards against corruption, diversion and criminal arbitrage.
“Fuel affects transportation. Transportation affects food prices. Energy affects production. Production affects jobs. All of them determine whether an ordinary Nigerian family can survive until the end of the month.
“So when Tinubu boasts that subsidy is gone, Nigerians should ask him what exactly he is celebrating: the empty cooking pots, abandoned medical prescriptions, unaffordable transport fares or businesses struggling to survive?
Furthermore, Atiku stated that “our demand of American law enforcement is not a call to interfere in Nigeria’s politics. It is a humanitarian and democratic appeal rooted in the principle that people have a right to information legitimately available about those who exercise enormous power over their lives.”
(The Sun)
