News
Tinubu to Atiku: Stop beefing! *Open your eyes to see progressing Nigeria
President Bola Tinubu, on Thursday, scoffed at the lacerating criticisms from Atiku Abubakar, former Vice-President, in which he principally described his two years in office as a monumental failure, particularly waving his economic policies as meant to further enrich the wealthy while the poor continued to suffer.
Atiku also berated the President for his current move to borrow additional N34.trillion from foreign and domestic lending portfolios, urging Nigerians to rise against it as it would mean that Nigeria would now be borrowing money to service loans in a vicious circle that would see generations unborn becoming slaves in their own country.
But conveying his position through Bayo Onanuga, his spokesman, the President, laughed off the contention, saying that the former VP, who was his opponent in the 2023 presidential election on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), had never seen anything good in his government, despite its giant strides, because of personal animousity.
In a quick riposte, Onanuga Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, pointed to the two-year scorecard of the President, which he said was marked by “most ambitious and audacious” economic and institutional reforms not witnessed in the country in decades.
His words: “Atiku’s sweeping criticism is unfair and appears to be driven more by animosity than objective analysis. Unless former Vice President Atiku allowed personal grievances to cloud his judgment, he should, in good conscience, acknowledge the significant progress and positive achievements made by this administration over the past two years.
“Tinubu never promised that his reforms would be painless but was clear that they were necessary to save the country from the brink of fiscal collapse due to unsustainable spending. The removal of subsidy on petrol and unification of the foreign exchange market were policies previous administrations deemed imperative but failed to implement.
“Unlike Atiku and a few critics, “everyone” agrees the reforms have stabilised government finances, reduced systemic corruption, and attracted direct investments into social programmes and infrastructure.
“Foreign investors now see Nigeria as an irresistible destination. Since 2023, the Nigerian exchange has seen its ASI jump from 50,000 to over 110,000, and market capitalisation has increased to N69.4 trillion, from about N30 trillion before Tinubu’s ascension.”
Dismissing the contention that his policies favoured the rich while punishing the poor, Tinubus, maintained that he had implemented social safety nets, introduced targeted interventions for low-income households and increased the minimum wage from N30,000 to N70,000.
He also dismissed the former VP’s contention that education had gone out of reach for poor Nigerians as “entirely off the mark, saying: “Everyone knows the claim is false. It is just an attempt to throw any muck at Bola Tinubu.”
Tinubu, who stressed that he also introduced the student loan scheme to ensure that underprivileged children were not denied education because of poverty, informed that at the last count, over 600,000 of them had benefitted from the scheme, adding that he had also made huge investments in medical care, including revitalising primary health centres, expanding health insurance, and working to reduce the cost of medicines.
Regarding the issue of debts, Tinubu said: “The finance minister has debunked this as untrue and said that even this year, the government only wants to borrow about $1.2 billion. Because Atiku does not like Bola Tinubu’s guts, he forgets to credit his administration with some of the fiscal achievements in the last two years. Revenue has increased phenomenally.
“The debt service ratio to revenue has declined from 93 per cent to 60 percent. This government has paid off the $3.4 billion IMF loan obtained in the Covid years. The current administration has discontinued Ways & Means deficit financing for the first time in decades.
“State revenue has risen, and subnational governments now have greater resources for local development and to pay their debts. Criticism must be constructive, adding that Abubakar should also offer a solution when he opposes government policies. Otherwise, his opposition statements will be dismissed as mere partisan rhetoric and cheap talk.”
Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, Governor of Oyo State, on Thursday, finally threw his hats into the ring by declaring his intention to run for president in 2027, with a message – history beckons.
The governor, whose ambition has been a matter of speculations for months now and who had teamed up with forces angling to force President Bola Tinubu, out of power, told a teeming crowd in Ibadan on Thursday that time had come to reset Nigeria.
At a mega-rally to announce the alliance between the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), and the Allied Peoples’ Movement, (APM), Makinde, expressed worry over the dwindling fortunes of Nigerians, vowing to engage Nigerians to end the drift.
Hear him: “Without a multi-party system, there is no democracy. Where is our multi-party? Where do we go from here? We have been pushed to the wall.
“They calculated and self-opposition cannot unite but I am here to say that the opposition is the everyday Nigerian. This is the time for all us to ensure Nigeria works for us. This is the time to confront it fears. It is time to engage as citizens and not spectators.
“For the opposition political parties, this is the time to unite and work in unity and give our nation the much reset it needs. The time to reset Nigeria is now. Ibadan is the city of warriors. The first grand alliance is formed. The PDP and APM is formed. This handshake will allow us to field candidates from presidency to state Assembly. And so, I declare my candidacy for office of the president of Nigeria.”
Eyo Ekpe, a professor of cardiothoracic surgery at the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital (UUTH), on Wednesday, gave a detailed account on how operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) manhandled him on Monday.
He told reporters that he was at sea on why he should fall victim to the assault against his person and eventually arrested given that was not right person directly involved in the information the agency sought.
Some operatives of the EFCC who invaded the hospital, had whisked Ekpe away after firing teargas to scare away the workers, patients and visitors to the hospital, following what appeared like a fracas the ensued over what it claimed was a routine duty in the facility.
Ekpe, Deputy Chairman of the hospital’s Medical Advisory Committee (MAC), described how an operative had first entered his office to make inquiries on why the hospital was yet to give a response to an EFCC inquiry over a medical report linked to a suspect facing trial.
He detailed how he briefed the operative that the said response was being prepared and even went ahead to show him the draft of a letter in that regard, which needed to go through the gamut of official endorsement before being released.
Hear him: “The head of that internal medicine department looked at the report and also discovered that the name of the doctor that signed the report is not a member of staff of that department.
“I had prepared prepared a response to the EFCC on Monday, May 11, 2026, based on the findings. When the EFCC operative visited my office the next morning to collect the document, I told him that the response was ready in draft. I even showed him the draft, but told him that the document still needed approval from the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the hospital before it could be officially signed and released.
“He pretended to have accepted that. He left, but later later returned with another armed operative and informed me that I was under arrest. I asked him why. I was not the one that issued the medical report. My name is not on the medical report. The report was not issued from my unit.
“But he said I would get the answer when I get to their office. I then asked him to at least wait for my staff member who I sent on an errand before joining them. But they refused.
“They started pushing me. They dragged me out of the office. Then I began to cry while they were dragging me. They had warned me not to speak. They had taken my phone. My cry as they were dragging me, attracted the workers to the scene, who enquired what was going on, but because they ordered me not to speak, I couldn’t say anything. They had their guns.
The members of staff of the hospital initially blocked them from taking me away. They then made a call. After that I saw many masked and armed men came violently, broke the protector, threatening the people that were around and people ran away.
“They picked some staff that were still by me. they dragged me and other staff, five of us into their van downstairs. By that time they discovered that the gate of the hospital were locked. So, they drove towards the gate and packed and the commotion continued. We were inside the van.
“I was so emotionally and psychologically traumatised that I couldn’t even look out of the vehicle to see what was happening outside. But I know that teargas and live bullets were shot. That’s all I can say for now.”
Joyce Abdulmalik, of the Federal High Court, Abuja, heard on Wednesday, how Zenith Bank raised alarm over the huge transaction in one of its branches by Abubakar Malami, former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice (AGF-MoJ).
The bank said it immediately filed a Suspicious Transaction Report (STR) in respect to the transactions, during its appearance in the ongoing trial of Malami, his wife, and son over allegation of massive looting of funds belonging to the Federal Government during his tenure.
Mashelia Bata, a compliance officer with the bank, who appeared as witness in the case, where Malami, et al, are facing a 16-count charge bordering on alleged money laundering to the tune of N8.7 billion, to which they pleaded not guilty, gave the testimony while being questioned on the bank’s roles in the matter.
Details of the testimony conveyed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), stated how the compliance officer who was cross-examined by Adebayo Adedeji, lawyer to the defendants admitted that the deposits in the account statements complied with the guidelines of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Arguments had stretched when Adedeji, opposed Jibrin Okutepa (SAN), lawyer to the EFCC, who had asked the witness to explain the meaning of a suspicious transaction report, stressing that there was no ambiguity in the term.
However, Okutepa, in response, maintained that section 215(3) of the Evidence Act did not preclude him from re-examining the witness while urging the court to allow the question for proper explanation.
After Abdulmalik, agreed and overruled Adedeji, the witness told the court that banks were required to alert the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) about fund deposits coming in a repetitive pattern, adding: “Any deposition of funds seen in a pattern or repetitive, you must escalate it to the NFIU.”
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