Atiku lacks moral ground to rescue Nigeria, says Buhari’s ex-aide

Okoi Obono-Obla, former aide to ex-president Muhammadu Buhari, has criticised Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President, over his comments on Nigeria’s governance.

In a post shared on Facebook, Obono-Obla said Atiku lacks the moral authority to position himself as a reformer.

Obono-Obla said politicians who have held public office for years should be judged by their records.

He further stated: “Most importantly, young people—those who were not yet born or were too young at the time—are entitled to know about these peripatetic politicians who have held important political offices in our country for many years, yet achieved nothing. Today, they prance and prattle about salvaging Nigeria.”

The Cross River-born politician also criticised Atiku’s role in the privatisation of public enterprises when he was the vice president.

His words: “When we were growing up, Nigeria had almost ten thousand industries and public enterprises.

“Atiku Abubakar was the Chairman of the National Privatization Council that sold these industries for next to nothing. Yet today, he makes noise about rescuing Nigeria. Such hypocrisy.”

Obono-Obla also warned against politicising insecurity in the country.

He said: “If you are a good researcher, you will not weaponize or politicize kidnapping, because kidnapping takes place in many other countries.

“Take South Africa, Cameroon, and the USA as examples. If you conduct a comparative analysis, you will see that the kidnapping rate in Nigeria pales into insignificance when compared to these countries.”