Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has blasted President Bola Ahmed Tinubu over comments regarding his role in Nigeria’s privatisation programme, accusing him of hypocrisy, historical distortion, and political desperation.
He levelled the allegations against the President in a statement issued by his spokesperson, Phrank Shaibu, in which he described Tinubu’s remarks as a “reckless tirade”.
Atiku was reacting to a recent statement from the President which chided him over his handling of the country’s economy during his tenure as Vice President.
Speaking in Abuja while hosting leaders and coordinators of the Renewed Hope Ambassadors, Tinubu said: “If you look at one of them, no one without history among them—no one without history. The head was the chairman of the privatisation council of Nigeria at one time.
“He privatised the steel industry in Delta. Is it working today? No. Is anything they privatised working today? They want to privatise another man’s political party. That one says no.”
Reacting to the claims, Atiku expressed astonishment that a President who has faced persistent questions over his own credentials would attempt to discredit others with well-documented records of public service.
“Atiku Abubakar’s attention has been drawn to the latest reckless tirade by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu—a performance that exposes not just desperation, but a troubling pattern of hypocrisy and historical amnesia,” the statement read.
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Regarding the country’s privatisation, Atiku’s camp said President Tinubu’s criticism collapses under scrutiny, recalling that the President had previously opposed the very reforms he now appears to be implementing.
“Atiku has long advocated for the privatisation of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the sale of refineries to credible private investors—a position Tinubu reportedly resisted at the time,” Shaibu added.
The statement further argued that the current administration is now presiding over a system that has effectively commercialised the national oil company “in opacity—without clear valuation, without transparency, and with lingering questions over who truly benefits.”
“This is not reform; it is privatisation without accountability,” Atiku continued.
“It is not our fault that the President does not and cannot read, because Bola Tinubu has a history of attending a school in Lagos two years before it was founded, upon which he claimed his Chicago State University degree.
“If he were properly educated, he would have acquainted himself with the privatisation records in the Presidency or the painstaking account of these reforms as captured by Mallam Nasir El-Rufai in The Accidental Public Servant, where the privatisation programme was clearly documented as a bold and structured effort to dismantle inefficiency and drive private sector-led growth.”
The statement added that Tinubu’s remarks could only have been made in ignorance of facts already laid bare in public records and credible accounts.
“You cannot oppose reform when it demands courage and then execute a shadow version of it in power,” Shaibu concluded.