A war of words has broken out between the Presidency and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar after the safe rescue of school pupils and teachers abducted in Oyo State, with both sides accusing the other of politicising the outcome.
Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, criticised Atiku for what he described as silence following the children’s rescue.
Onanuga said that roughly 18 hours after the pupils and their teachers regained freedom, Atiku had not publicly rejoiced with the Tinubu administration, security agencies, or the affected families.
The SA noted that Atiku had repeatedly referenced the kidnapping, which occurred 57 days earlier, as a campaign issue while the children remained in captivity, but had gone quiet since their release.
He suggested Atiku might be “waiting for some bad news to attack the Tinubu administration,” and contrasted this with the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Obi, whom he said publicly applauded the rescue effort.
In his response, Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), rejected the Presidency claim as false.
In a statement issued through his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku said he had already released a statement earlier that day titled “A Nation at War Needs a Commander-In-Chief, Not a Campaigner-In-Chief,” in which he welcomed the children’s rescue and praised the military and security agencies involved.
The statement argued that the Presidency has two possible explanations for its claim: that officials failed to verify publicly available information before issuing their attack, or that they were aware of his statement but chose to ignore it.
Atiku’s camp said his earlier statement had commended the “courage, professionalism, and sacrifice” of the security agencies, but stopped short of praising President Tinubu, whom he accused of being publicly focused on partisan political activities at a moment he believes called for national leadership.
The statement also renewed questions about children abducted in Borno state and other Nigerians still being held captive, asking when they would be rescued as well.
Atiku’s team called on the Presidency to focus its attention on ongoing security challenges rather than what it described as manufacturing controversy around opposition statements.
