Former Vice President and African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has accused the Presidency of abandoning accountability for personal attacks, insisting that no amount of insults can erase what he described as legitimate public concerns.
Reacting to the Presidency’s latest criticism of him, Atiku, in a statement issued on Thursday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, said the Tinubu administration had chosen “diversion over disclosure” by attacking his personality instead of addressing issues raised by Nigerians.
“When a government abandons facts for insults and substitutes evidence with abuse, it is often a sign that it has run out of convincing answers. Nigerians expected clarification; what they received was a barrage of name-calling and political invective,” Atiku said.
The former Vice President argued that raising questions based on publicly available records should not be portrayed as an attack on Nigeria’s sovereignty.
“No one has reported Nigeria to anyone. Nigeria is not on trial. The issue concerns questions arising from publicly available records relating to the occupant of the nation’s highest office. Those records were not created by the opposition, the ADC or any political actor. Wrapping oneself in the national flag does not answer the questions before the country,” he stated.
Atiku faulted the Presidency for reviving old political allegations against him instead of providing direct answers to the issues in contention.
According to him, Nigerians can easily distinguish between political mudslinging and factual explanations.
“Personal attacks do not erase public records, nor do they substitute for transparency. The Presidency should resist the temptation to personalise matters that require clear and factual explanations,” he added.
The former Vice President also described as ironic what he called the administration’s attitude towards international scrutiny.
“You cannot celebrate international validation when it is convenient and condemn international scrutiny when it becomes uncomfortable. Accountability is not foreign interference; it is a democratic obligation,” he said.
Atiku further dismissed claims that winning an election automatically shields public officials from scrutiny.
“Elections confer political authority, but they do not extinguish the public’s right to ask questions. A democratic mandate is not a substitute for transparency, nor does it exempt any public official from the obligation to account to the people,” he maintained.
He urged the Tinubu administration to abandon what he described as a combative posture and provide Nigerians with verifiable facts instead of inflammatory rhetoric.
“If the government believes that the public record has been misunderstood or misrepresented, the appropriate response is to present the facts. Abuse cannot replace evidence, and propaganda cannot replace truth,” Atiku said.
He insisted that history has shown that responsible governments respond to public scrutiny with openness rather than hostility.
“The Nigerian people deserve answers, not insults. They deserve transparency, not diversion. Until these questions are addressed with verifiable facts, no amount of outrage or personal attacks will silence legitimate public inquiry,” he added.
