Buhari group lists why Nigerians must hold Atiku ‘directly responsible’ for extreme poverty

Former Vice President and presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in last election, Atiku Abubakar, “is directly responsible” for extreme poverty ravaging millions of Nigerians, President Muhammadu Buhari’s media group has claimed.

Buhari Media Organisation (BMO) made this claim in a statement on Tuesday, signed and released by its chairman, Niyi Akinsiju, and secretary, Cassidy Madueke.

According to the group, contrary to Atiku’s claims that Buhari’s government ruined the country, it was he (Atiku), who “pauperised millions of Nigerians as then head of the National Council on Privatisation (NCP)”.

The group was responding to Atiku’s comment on the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report in July, which noted that slightly over 98 million Nigerians were living in multi-dimensional poverty.

But in its statement BMO said, “We are not surprised that the former Vice President has jumped on a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report issued last month to take a swipe at a man he clearly considers as his nemesis.

“The UN body had noted that slightly over 98 million Nigerians were living in multi-dimensional poverty, but, as usual, the former PDP Presidential candidate did not fully grasp the details before launching an attack on President Buhari

“The report indicated that about 46% of Nigerians were poor as at today, but Atiku Abubakar needs to be reminded that 60.9 per cent of Nigerians or 100 million people were living below the poverty threshold in 2010, and 120 million in 2012, according to the World Bank which is the body that provides a global poverty headcount.

“Interestingly, the period the country had an exponential spike in the number of people living below $1 a day was during the 16 unbroken years that the former Vice President’s party held sway in Nigeria.”

BMO also noted that the former PDP Presidential candidate created the pathway for Nigeria’s struggle with poverty alongside his then principal Olusegun Obasanjo with the less than transparent privatisation exercise he presided over.

“it is not a secret that Alhaji Abubakar was the executor- in-chief of what has gone down in the annals of the nation as a major heist of the nation’s assets, an action that later pitched him against former President Obasanjo.

“He literally sold off several Government-owned Enterprises for less than their market value to his cronies to strip and cannibalise and in the process, tens of thousands of workers were denied their livelihood and laid off without benefits. It is also on record that he kept one of the prized assets (Onne Port) to himself.

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“Or does he also have to be reminded of the period when the nation’s educational sector virtually collapsed but that was when he and former President Obasanjo established high profile, private secondary and tertiary institutions.

“So, if Atiku is searching for the person who plunged Nigerians into multi-dimensional poverty, he should just look into the nearest mirror, or maybe he could tell us how many people he drove into penury and how many had their pensions paid even after the terminal date of the Obasanjo administration.”

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