Atiku to Tinubu: Avoid public relations theatrics, tackle Nigeria’s challenges

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has challenged President Bola Tinubu to return home, provide leadership, and tackle the challenges facing the nation.

Atiku, while reacting to viral photos showing President Tinubu having lunch with Rwanda’s President, Paul Kagame, in Paris, described the development as “a textbook case of misplaced priorities and official shamelessness.”

Phrank Shaibu, Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication to Atiku Abubakar, in a statement, decried President Tinubu’s lunch with the Rwandan leader as inappropriate, coming at a time when Nigerians are facing multidimensional challenges.

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“The Presidency chose to brief the nation on who the President had lunch with and who he dined with in Paris, while Nigerians are crushed by hunger, insecurity, collapsing businesses, and a brutal cost-of-living crisis.

“That is not leadership. It is tone-deafness in power. While communities in Niger State and other parts of the country are under attack and families can no longer afford basic food, the Presidency is busy explaining camera phones, image quality, and photo editing.

“By the way, why is Tinubu’s plate empty? Nigerians did not ask for a Paris menu; they asked for leadership.

“On the claim of AI or forgery, the outrage is unconvincing. A Presidency repeatedly entangled in controversies over forged or questionable documents cannot suddenly pretend to be shocked by public scepticism.”

Atiku noted that Nigerians questioned the authenticity of the photograph because the Tinubu administration has lost the confidence of the people.

“When credibility is eroded, doubt follows naturally. Instead of asking why trust has collapsed, the Presidency is lecturing Nigerians and attacking the media.

“The real falsehood is not a photograph; it is the daily distortion of leadership priorities. Nigeria is burning. The Presidency is editing pictures.

“It is time for the Presidency to abandon public relations theatrics, return home, and confront the emergencies facing Nigerians — hunger, insecurity, and economic collapse — with urgency, humility, and action. That is the minimum Nigerians expect.”