The Presidency on Sunday said former Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar was one of those responsible for Nigeria’s sorry state and as such lacks the moral right to criticise President Muhammadu Buhari over the state of affairs of the nation today.
Speaking on Channels Television program ‘Sunday Politics, Femi Adesina, Special Adviser to the President on media and publicity said Nigerians shouldn’t take Atiku seriously as records of the misgovernance of his tenure with former President Olusegun Obasanjo for eight years are still in the public domain.
He said “The former Vice-President was in power for eight years, now he is in opposition to the government. You can’t take whatever he says as the gospel. The question is, when former vice-president Atiku Abubakar was in power with former president Olusegun Obasanjo, where did they take the country to? Where did they leave the country?”
“There are clips I have seen myself on social media where he was saying some things they promised to do especially on power, some people collected trillions and didn’t deliver. The interviewer asked him did they go after them? He said unfortunately, they didn’t go after them”.
“So, former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar was part of the rot this country became, so he can’t exculpate himself; he can’t begin to sit in judgement over anybody. He played his part for eight years and they left the country where they left it. so, he can’t like Pontius Pilate begin to wash his hands clean of what Nigeria has become”.
When asked if the presidency will never listen to Atiku’s criticism, Adesina said “The president will always listen to what is well-founded. Anything that is not borne out of negative politicking, the presidency will always listen”.