Atiku Abubakar, the Peoples Democratic Party’s 2023 presidential contender, has strongly blasted President Bola Tinubu over his decision to visit Plateau State on Saturday and attend the funeral of Mama Lydia Yilwatda, the APC National Chairman, Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda’s late mother.
The former vice president claimed that rather than visiting victims and providing comfort to towns devastated by insecurity, Tinubu went to a social gathering in the North Central state.
Atiku called the President’s visit to the North Central state, one of the regions most severely affected by violent attacks, “a sad reflection of priorities and a mockery of leadership” in a tweet made on Saturday on his official X account.
Atiku said it was unfortunate that instead of expressing sympathy to the victims of the ongoing killings and displacement throughout the region, the President travelled to Plateau State to attend a burial associated with the APC chairman.
“With large swathes of the country still under siege from unrelenting insecurity and thousands of innocent lives lost, it is deeply unfortunate that President Bola Tinubu has not, for once, found it worthy to visit any of the affected states to commiserate with the grieving citizens,” Atiku said.
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The former vice president claimed that the president’s choice to go to the function “under the auspices of his party’s national chairman” demonstrated a lack of compassion and understanding.
“Between the APC National Chairman and his President, what we witnessed today is a heartless exhibition of disregard for empathy, compassion, and the dignity of human life,” he added.
Citing states like Benue, Niger, and Kwara as examples of locations that have had frequent attacks without direct presidential visits, Atiku further lambasted the Tinubu administration for failing to demonstrate sympathy with victims of violence in the North Central area.
He recalled that even during Tinubu’s visit to Benue in June, “he never bothered to set foot in Yelewata, the epicentre of the massacre,” accusing the President of preferring comfort over compassion.
“Now again, he is in Plateau State, not to console the bereaved or reassure the broken, but to celebrate and make merry with his party elite while the people mourn. The message could not be clearer: this is a President who would rather feast than feel—a leader who finds pleasure where the people find pain,” Atiku said.
He warned that “the people are watching, and they will remember,” indicating that Nigerians were paying attention to the President’s activities.
Recall that Tinubu was there at Mama Lydia’s funeral, which took place at the Church of Christ in Nations headquarters in Jos, the capital of Plateau state.
The President spoke during the event, urging people to “shun religious and ethnic differences” and live in harmony while promoting harmony, peace, and tolerance.
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