Former Vice President and African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has fired back at President Bola Tinubu over his claim that the opposition is responsible for hunger and poverty in Nigeria.

He described the accusation as a “delusional, shameless attempt to dodge responsibility for the misery Tinubu’s own government has inflicted on Nigerians.”

In a statement issued on Saturday by Phrank Shaibu, Director of Strategic Communication of the ADC Presidential Campaign Council, Atiku said a president cannot light the fire of hardship with his own policies and then blame the neighbours for the smoke.

The former vice president accused Tinubu of insulting the intelligence of Nigerians, noting that the All Progressives Congress (APC) governed for eight years before Tinubu took office and has added another three and a half years.

Atiku also mocked the president’s decision to commission the unfinished Abuja-Kaduna Expressway from inside a stadium, saying “a road cannot be completed with a speech or a ribbon cutting ceremony.”

In the statement, Atiku reeled out a litany of questions he said Nigerians deserve answers to, including: “Which administration removed the petrol subsidy and watched the naira fall from about ₦471 to ₦1,329 to the dollar?”

He further asked which administration presided over a rise in poverty that led the World Bank to estimate that 63 per cent of Nigerians would be below the national poverty line in 2026, extended the 2024 budget into 2025 while operating a separate 2025 budget, recorded ₦7.13 trillion under “energy security” in 2024 and faces questions over ₦11.2 trillion in NNPC pipeline-related spending.

Atiku also demanded explanations for the $12.4 billion gap flagged in Nigeria’s external accounts for the first half of 2026 and the $22.5 million paid in “other charges” on the Abu Dhabi financing facility, as well as answers on the killings, kidnappings and displacement terrorising communities across the country.

The statement said the president could not govern for three years, make life harder and then blame others for describing the hardship, adding that Nigerians are asking what the government has done to end the hunger it denies.

Atiku declared that the 2027 presidential election will be a referendum on Tinubu’s record, saying Nigerians have felt the cost of his leadership in their homes, markets and communities.

“Their verdict is already clear: they have rejected your administration,” the statement said.