The All Progressives Congress (APC) and the FCT minister, Mr Nyesom Wike, have attacked the former vice president, Mr Atiku Abubakar, former minister of transportation, Rotimi Amaechi and former governor of Kaduna State, Mr Nasir El-Rufai over their comments that the government of President Bola Tinubu had failed to curb poverty, but instead weaponise it.
The three opposition figures made the claim at the weekend at a public lecture held in Abuja to mark Amaechi’s 60th birthday anniversary.
Amaechi had said that the gains of the subsidy removal and forex unification policies of the Tinubu administration are in the private pockets of a few individuals in government.
“At a point, we were paying close to ₦4 trillion to ₦5 trillion for oil subsidy so we stopped but where is the ₦4 trillion to ₦5 trillion? If they drop it on the economy, you will not be crying. We want to submit to the opposition if the opposition can lead us out of this problem,” he added.
Spokesman for the APC, Mr Felix Morka, reacted in a statement, saying the trio who held public offices in the past did fail to eradicate poverty in their states or the country when they held sway.
“These statements were reportedly made at a public lecture held in Abuja on Saturday, May 31, 2025, to mark the 60th birthday anniversary celebration of Chief Rotimi Amaechi, former governor of Rivers state and former minister of transportation. But the celebration quickly dissolved into an occasion for Amaechi, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, former vice president, and Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, former governor of Kaduna state and former minister of the Federal Capital Territory – leading displaced rent-seekers – to showcase their frenzied desperation to grab power purely for their self aggrandizement,” said Morka.
Continuing, the APC spokesman alleged that the three individuals who occupied Nigeria’s highest political offices between 1999 and 2023, either as vice president, governors, or ministers, among other important positions engaged in asset stripping during their reign instead of tacking the structural challenges and distortions that stifled the economy and worsened poverty over the years.
“In all 24 years, the trio, individually or collectively, could not and did not eradicate poverty in their states or the country.
“Rather, they reveled in mindless rent-seeking behaviour, sold national assets to their cronies for mere pittance, engaged in corrupt and wasteful expenditures in their states, and relentlessly sponsored state violence against their own people.
“Take the case of Amaechi, the celebrant, who served for an unbroken total of 24 years – eight years as speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, eight years as Governor of Rivers State, and eight years as Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. That’s about a quarter of a century of freeloading by Amaechi on state resources, with absolutely no record of attempting to combat poverty in his Rivers State or the country.
“When Amaechi declared, ‘I am hungry’, he must mean, and must be understood to mean that he is hungry and desperate to return to his felt entitled dependency on state resources and patronage. That he is hungry barely two years out of office simply underscores the depth of the self-serving motivations of Amaechi and his coalition partners in their quest for power for selfish exploitation, and not for the interest of the people.
“Nigerians see right through their disruptive politicking. Amaechi and his cohorts are losing their grip on the economy. Accustomed to fleecing the economy, they are now compelled by Tinubu’s unprecedented reforms to adapt to a new reality where hard work, productivity, and innovation are rewarded. Their criticisms of President Tinubu’s reforms are decidedly self-serving, driven by a desperate quest for power to satiate their voracious rent-seeking appetite, which has long stifled and denied progress to the economy.
“On contrary, it was the failure of previous administrations, particularly 16 years of PDP administrations, to allow the Naira to find its real value that created the economic conditions of poverty that the present administration is now addressing,” Morka said.
He also lashed out at Atiku, El-Rufai and the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate in 2023, Mr Peter Obi, alleging that they reaped enormous benefits from the old system.
“Atiku, a former customs officer, and Obi, a successful importer, reaped enormous benefits from the old system. Their criticisms reek of special interest masqueraded as concern for the people. By allowing market forces to determine the Naira’s value, the administration is taking necessary bold steps to catalyse economic growth, incentivise investment, boost competitiveness, and alleviate poverty.
“The criticisms variously leveled by Amaechi, Atiku, El-Rufai and Peter Obi mask a shameless attempt to perpetuate and cling to the old rent-seeking economy that enriched them at the expense of the Nigerian people.
“As beneficiaries of the corrupt and inefficient economic system, they are discomforted that Tinubu’s reforms are dismantling the insidious and permissive system that enabled and sustained their reckless plunder and exploitation of the economy,” he said.
Morka added: “Indubitably, in two years, President Tinubu has demonstrated political will to tackle structural barriers to the country’s economic growth and development far more than any other President in Nigeria’s modern history. By his bold economic reforms, President Tinubu is systematically building the most potent bulwark against poverty and positioning the economy to deliver sustained and sustainable growth and prosperity for all Nigerians.
For his part, Wike lashed out at Amaechi in particular, saying as speaker of the Rivers State house of assembly for eight years, governor for another eight years and minister for almost eight years, he never spoke about hunger.
“I don’t understand why a man like Amaechi would choose his 60th birthday to lie to Nigerians about being hungry.
“He was Speaker from 1999 to 2007, Governor from 2007 to 2015, and Minister from 2015 to 2023. He never spoke about hunger during those years.
“Now they are regrouping. They are only hungry for power. This shows his failure. How can you trivialise the issue of hunger? He joined Atiku and claimed hunger.
“It is clear he cannot stay out of power. From 1999 to 2023, Amaechi stood before Nigerians and claimed hunger. He was a former governor who couldn’t secure even 25% for Buhari during elections, despite being the campaign DG.
“Thank God we did not support the PDP; otherwise, he would have taken the glory. He is now in a coalition. I don’t like to talk much. Let them form their team and start from home in Rivers.
“Let’s see how he plans to remove the president. Is it a military coup? The term ‘removal’ is synonymous with dictatorship or military coup. Nigerians remember what happened in 2015, and now he claims Nigerians are hungry.
“I am not a liability; I am an asset. You may dislike me, but I am an asset in ensuring President Tinubu wins a second term,” Wike said.
