By Majeed Ishola
The Democratic Front, TDF, has dismissed the reaction of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to President Bola Tinubu’s Independence Day speech as sour grapes.
In a statement signed by its Chairman, Mallam Danjuma Muhammad and Secretary, Chief Wale Adedayo, TDF argued that no one should expect Atiku to hail a man who is seeking to unseat no matter how good he performs in office
It said: “The Democratic Front is once again obligated to denounce the dystopian and pedestrian response of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to the 65th Independence speech of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the giant strides achieved by the ongoing economic reforms.
”We note that the President acknowledged in his speech, the impressive deceleration in headline inflation to 20.12%, the record surge in non-oil revenue to over N20 trillion by August 2025, a remarkable growth in Gross Domestic Products (GDP) by 4.23% in Q 2 2025 as well as a strong external reserve of $42.03 billion amongst others as part of his scorecard.
”Every keen observer of Nigeria’s economic trajectory in the last three decades will agree that the President’s claims of economic turnaround are not only true, but verifiable.
”Most instructive in the recovery indices is the expansion of the economy with its multiplier effects on the value chains towards jobs and wealth creation in the country.
”However, we are not surprised that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar opted for a rather pedestrian and dystopian characterisation of the positive economic reality, by dismissing all the positive signals as a cracked pot.”
”Even though we agree that the nation still has a way to travel, we are propelled by prevailing reality to acknowledge the current easing of costs of foodstuffs in local markets, coupled with improved harvests.
”This is on account of the Federal Government’s initiative of dry season farming to ensure food security, which has softened access and costs of foodstuffs in the country.
”It is for this reason that TDF considers former Vice President Abubakar’s dysfunctional imagination as not only dystopian and illusory but also represents his wish for Nigeria and its citizens. Atiku imagines the nation plunging into the worst situation possible as a justification for his desperation to rule the country. So, he begins to paint all things black and wickedly demonises the present administration.
”It is a brazen attack on the sensibility of Nigerians, and a deliberate ploy to distract public attention from the failure of the Obasanjo/Atiku administration to rescue Nigerians from multi-dimensional hunger and poverty between 1999 and 2007, when global reports estimated the number of Nigerians living in hunger and poverty to be about 80 million out of a population of 180 million people.
”Perhaps, one of the most authoritative justifications of Tinubu’s economic stride in the last two years is the Stanbic IBTC report on Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for August 2025, which shows that Nigeria’s headline PMI gained momentum of a 19-month record high at 54.2%.”
”Furthermore, we expect Atiku Abubakar and his handlers to remember that Nigeria is yet to recover from the high rate of unemployment and poverty created by the inglorious privatization of state-owned companies by the former Vice President when he was the Chairman of the National Council on Privatization (NCP) and the inexplicable misappropriation of a $16 billion on an electricity project that further entrenched the nation in darkness.
”It was a time that Nigeria became a hub of commercial tricycles as a tool for fighting poverty after millions lost their jobs in a poorly thought-out privatisation exercise.
To date, none of the state-owned companies that were sold by Atiku Abubakar has added anything tangible to the economy, either by way of employment or revenue generation. Yet, Atiku still musters the impudence to delve into important national issues.
”Our position is that Atiku’s resort to propaganda is doing more damage than good to his political ambition and reputation. We believe that the earlier he desists, the better for him.
”Hunger in Nigeria was a result of decades of economic mismanagement and corruption, which Atiku actively participated in bringing about. It is, therefore, self-indicting and delusional on his part to attempt to mislead the public in believing that hunger is an exclusive fall-out of the policies of the Tinubu administration, knowing fully well that Tinubu inherited the odium from past governments, including the one Atiku served as Vice President.
”The Democratic Front is of the view that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s efforts in boosting food security, and expanding the economy to create more jobs and wealth in the country, as shown in the Stanbic IBTC and NBS reports on Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for the month of August 2025, would provide lasting solutions to issues of poverty and hunger in Nigeria. Atiku should keep his dystopian mindset to himself,” the statement added.
End.
