Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has claimed he did not lose the 2023 presidential election, rather that President Bola Tinubu “criminally stole” his mandate.
According to Atiku, Nigerians who gave him the mandate know that Tinubu did not win.
Atiku’s position is contrary to the declaration of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), which is constitutionally empowered to conduct and declared results in the country.
His position is also at variance with the decision of the Supreme Court which affirmed, although controversially, the election of Tinubu as president.
While the election was adjudged as the worst in the history of Nigeria by both local and international observers, official results showed Tinubu scored 8,794,726 votes to Atiku’s 6,984,520 votes.
Peter Obi of the Labour Party came third with 6,101,533 votes.
Atiku had on Sunday stated what he would have done differently if he was elected president in 2023, would have been to initiate policies and reforms to railroad Nigeria from the disastrous administration of President Muhammadu Buhari of 2015 to 233 to recovery and ultimately growth.
But in a quick fire response, Tinubu through his spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, dismissed Atiku’s submission as shallow, empty and unworkable.
Tinubu said “Atiku’s ideas, which lacked details, were rejected by Nigerians in the 2023 poll.”
Worryingly, he stated that, “If he (Atiku) had won the election, we believe he would have plunged Nigeria into a worse situation or run a regime of cronyism.”
But the former vice president in a statement addressing respondents’ concerns about what he would have done differently used the opportunity to mock the president, again describing him as T-Pain, a name given to the president following what many Nigerians have described as “painful and bad administration” that has beaten the poor record of former president, Buhari.
To many Nigerians, Buhari’s administration was heavenlywhen compared to the 18 months already spent on the saddle by President Tinubu.
Atiku said, he has “taken note of the initial responses highlighting the striking disparity between President Tinubu’s faltering economic policies and the alternatives I have proposed.”
He added that “it is exciting to witness such a vigorous debate on these critical matters, and I sincerely hope that this discourse will ultimately benefit Nigeria and its citizens.”
He opined that “like many fellow Nigerians, I firmly believe that we find ourselves in this current economic turmoil due to the Tinubu administration’s hasty ascent to power, devoid of a coherent plan.
“In stark contrast, my team not only devised a comprehensive Recovery Plan, but also welcomed significant input from Nigerians, ensuring that our approach was inclusive and well-considered.
“Isn’t it fascinating how the so-called ‘tested’ Tinubu administration’s only policy response seems to be a national prayer led by the First Lady and the NSA? Just a mere 24 hours after I proposed my alternative solutions! What a bold strategy!”
He added that in the interpretation of the scriptures, prayer indeed serves as a noble path to follow. However, the sacred texts, according to him, “also counsel us to engage in diligent labour and hard work.”
Atiku described it as uncharitable for Tinubu’s team to claim that his proposals remain untested, believing that what “remains unproven is the erratic, trial-and-error nature of the policies so far implemented by this administration, which elucidates our present predicament.”
Reminiscing, he emphasised that “under our economic stewardship between 1999-2003, Nigeria soared to the pinnacle of Africa’s economies, while their administration has relegated us to a disheartening fourth position.
“The average GDP rate under the Obasanjo administration that I served in was 6.59% and peaked at 15% in 2002; 7.98% under the late Yar’Adua administration and 4.8% under Jonathan compared to the dismal 2.8% of the so-called ‘tested’ Tinubu era.
“Enough of the pains of the shambolic ‘bolekaja’ economic policy prescriptions!” Atiku fired back.
He stressed that Nigerians cannot hope to tax their way out of the economic quagmire wrought by what he described as the misguided experimental policies of a novice administration.
“Numerous nations, such as the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Monaco (an EU territory with a zero-income tax policy), among many others,” he said, “have emerged as economic powerhouses by fostering growth through lower taxation”.
“Why then are we fixated on inflicting further hardship upon an already struggling populace?” Atiku asked.
“One can only speculate that Tinubu’s government is anchored to a mere Tea-plan, which can only lead to a T-pain,” he added.
Atiku emphasised that “the citizens who cast their votes in the 2023 presidential election are well aware that I did not lose; rather, we find ourselves in this predicament because the election was criminally stolen from the Nigerian people.”