Atiku, the 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), accused the Tinubu administration of deliberately weaponising poverty as a tool of political control.
Opposition heavyweights—Atiku Abubakar, Nasir El-Rufai, and Rotimi Amaechi—have slammed President Bola Tinubu for Nigeria’s escalating insecurity and poverty, pledging to block his 2027 re-election bid. Speaking at Amaechi’s 60th birthday lecture, Atiku accused the administration of “state-sanctioned weaponisation of poverty,” citing visible destitution in once-prosperous Kano. The trio framed the crisis as deliberate political strategy.
“We’re in this alliance to stop them weaponising poverty,” Atiku declared. El-Rufai and Amaechi echoed concerns, with the latter warning: “Hunger has become a national emergency under this government.”