Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has condemned President Bola Tinubu’s distribution of food palliatives in Northern Nigeria as a “weaponisation of hunger” and a political performance that ignores the structural causes of the country’s economic crisis.
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has launched a scathing critique of the President Bola Tinubu administration, characterizing the recent distribution of food palliatives in Northern Nigeria as a political tactic rather than a solution to systemic hardship. In a statement released Friday in Abuja through his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku accused the government of “weaponising hunger and poverty” through high-profile relief exercises. The criticism follows an initiative led by First Lady Oluremi Tinubu, who recently flagged off the distribution of 100 trucks of rice and ₦1.2 billion in palliatives to the Northern states and the Federal Capital Territory.
Shaibu described the aid distribution as “a calculated political performance staged on the altar of mass hardship,” arguing that such displays serve only to normalize deprivation across the federation. According to the statement, the administration has prioritized “optics” and choreographed ceremonies over addressing the underlying economic issues that have left millions of Nigerians unable to afford basic necessities. “What Nigerians are witnessing today is the tragic normalisation of poverty under the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Families can no longer afford basic meals, inflation has ravaged household incomes, and millions are being pushed daily into extreme deprivation,” Atiku said.
The former Vice President further alleged that the administration’s inability to secure farmlands has led to a sharp decline in agricultural productivity in the North since 2023. He contended that policy failures have allowed insecurity to displace farmers, thereby weakening national food supply chains and creating the very crisis the government now seeks to exploit with “campaign lunch packs.” Addressing the disconnect between the palliatives and sustainable reform, Atiku stated: “Yet, instead of addressing the structural causes of this crisis, the government has chosen the path of optics—distributing food in carefully choreographed ceremonies while the underlying suffering deepens. Since 2023, Northern farmers have suffered declining productivity due to the Tinubu administration’s policy failures and its inability to secure farmlands. Vast agricultural belts have been abandoned to insecurity, leaving farmers displaced and food supply chains severely weakened.”
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