Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Media and Public Communication, Sunday Dare, has criticised former Vice-President and African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, over his recent comments on the Tinubu administration and the economy.
Dare, in a statement titled “Atiku Abubakar’s Unsolicited Homework,” accused Atiku of attempting to dictate how President Tinubu should run the government after the ADC candidate addressed the President as “Bola” during a press conference in Abuja.
Atiku had on Friday called on Tinubu to reduce petrol and electricity costs and use the remaining months of his administration to ease the economic burden on households, workers and businesses.
He also urged the President to reconsider aspects of the government’s energy policies, saying Nigerians were bearing the consequences of high petrol, transportation and electricity costs.
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Reacting, Dare described Atiku’s manner of addressing the President as “the height of political hubris,” arguing that the office of the President should be accorded appropriate respect.
“To lecture a sitting President with the unbridled insolence of dropping his first name, petulantly barking instructions, and dictating how governance should be run within a truncated timeline is the height of political hubris,” Dare said.
He argued that if Atiku had a message for Nigerians, the appropriate platform was the campaign trail, describing the former Vice-President’s intervention as an attempt to dictate government policy from outside the administration.
Dare also defended the economic direction of the Tinubu administration, saying the President was undertaking reforms aimed at restructuring an economy affected by what he described as decades of structural challenges and subsidy expenditure.
“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is doing the heavy, foundational lifting required to restructure an economy crippled by decades of structural inertia and subsidy haemorrhaging,” he said.
Atiku had argued at his Abuja press conference that government intervention could help reduce petrol prices and ease pressure on Nigerians. He said Tinubu should not reject a proposal simply because it came from a political opponent.
“Bola Tinubu should not be ashamed to do what is necessary to lower the price of petrol simply because Atiku Abubakar proposed a government intervention,” Atiku said.
Dare, however, questioned Atiku’s record in government and referred to controversies surrounding his past involvement in economic affairs and the Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Project.
He said Atiku should address what he described as “lingering” questions surrounding the Mambilla matter before attempting to lecture the current administration on governance.
The Mambilla issue has been the subject of a long-running dispute involving Sunrise Power and the Federal Government. A recent International Chamber of Commerce arbitration ruling in Paris rejected claims brought by Sunrise Power in the dispute, according to reports.
Dare also criticised Atiku’s political record, alleging that his decades-long pursuit of the presidency had been marked by political opportunism. He further questioned the former Vice-President’s criticism of the administration’s economic policies.
He said Atiku’s call for government intervention amounted to what he described as a “sudden conversion to the gospel of interventionism,” alleging that the proposal was being used for electoral advantage.
Dare maintained that the Tinubu administration would continue with its reform agenda despite criticism from opposition figures.
He urged Atiku to take his proposals to Nigerians as a presidential candidate rather than attempting to issue directives to a sitting President.
“It is election season. If Alhaji Atiku has a message for Nigerians, the proper place for it is the campaign trail—not a briefing room from which he talks down to the Head of State,” Dare said.
