Wike slams Atiku, calls him liar over hunger, insecurity remarks
Nyesom Wike, minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), has launched a fresh attack on former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, describing him as a liar.
Speaking on Channels TV on Thursday night, Mr Wike dismissed Mr Atiku’s recent comments linking Nigeria’s worsening insecurity to poverty and hunger.
“Do you know I am the last person that reads whatever Atiku (Abubakar) says because he has no truth. He lies. No single truth,” the minister said.
Mr Wike added, “So, who is Atiku to be telling us about hunger or revolution? I would prefer I don’t speak to him. He was a vice president for eight years. Why didn’t he put everything in proper shape so that there wouldn’t be hunger again?”
The fresh attack on the opposition leader came after he expressed concern over the level of hunger and poverty among Nigerians.
Mr Atiku, the 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), had earlier criticised President Bola Tinubu’s administration for failing to address what he described as an escalating hunger crisis.
In a statement issued by his spokesman, Paul Ibe, the opposition leader warned that the widespread poverty and hunger could push the poor to the brink and also trigger ‘revolution’.
He added that the Mr Tinubu-led ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) seems to have no clear solutions to the hunger in the land.
“At this time, there are no manifest signs that this government is capable of addressing the grim issue of severe hunger staring the poor in the face after two years in power,” Mr Atiku said.
He added, “The French Revolution, the 1917 Russian Revolution and the Arab Spring, in which a young man caught in the maelstrom of unbearable frustration set himself ablaze in a development which occasioned violent socio-political eruptions starting out from Tunisia to engulf the Middle East and North Africa.
“Back home here in Nigeria, it may not be out of place to argue that even the “ENDSARS” protest was fuelled by the traumatising frustration of hunger and insensitivity on the part of the government.”
Mr Wike’s latest outburst marks a fresh round in the long-running feud between the two prominent politicians.
We have recently deactivated our website's comment provider in favour of other channels of distribution and commentary. We encourage you to join the conversation on our stories via our Facebook, Twitter and other social media pages.
More from Peoples Gazette
Agriculture
FG tasks ECOWAS on leveraging financing strategies for agroecology
The federal government has urged stakeholders in the agriculture and finance sectors in the West Africa region to leverage financing strategies to enhance agroecology practices
Politics
Katsina youths pledge to deliver over 2 million votes to Atiku
“Katsina State is Atiku’s political base because it is his second home.”
World
UN pressing ahead for better world amid global crises, says Guterres
UN operations in 2024 came at a heartbreaking human cost. It was the deadliest year on record for UN staff and humanitarian workers, with 373 aid workers killed.
Lagos
Four buildings, 200 shops destroyed in Mandilas Market fire in Lagos: NEMA
The National Emergency Management Agency has confirmed that four buildings were destroyed in the fire outbreak that engulfed parts of Mandilas Market on Lagos Island.
States
Four alleged cultists arrested in Imo
The suspects, during interrogation, confessed to being members of the Vikings Confraternity, said the police.
States
Police nab pastor for stealing, selling baby mama’s one-month-old child for N.9 million
The baby mama was “deceived and falsely informed that her child had died at birth”.
Rights
U.S.-deported Nigerians sue Ghana for illegal detention
Legal counsel for 11 of the 14 deportees, Oliver-Barker Vormawor, is challenging their detention in Ghana’s military camp against their will.
Rights
91 Chibok schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram still missing 10 years on: UN
“Nigeria is responsible for grave and systematic violations of women’s and girls’ rights amid multiple mass abductions,” the UN report said.
