The Presidential Candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has rejected claims by the Presidency that he remained silent following the rescue of the abducted Oyo State schoolchildren and their teachers.
In a statement released on Saturday through his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku described the allegation as a “reckless distortion of facts,” insisting that publicly available evidence disproves the claim.
According to the statement, Atiku said there were only two possible explanations for the Presidency’s accusation: either its media team failed to verify publicly available information before responding, or it deliberately ignored his earlier statement because it highlighted uncomfortable issues.
“It is astonishing that a Presidency with limitless public resources could accuse someone of silence without carrying out the most basic verification,” Atiku was quoted as saying.
He added, “Either they failed to read our statement because they were too lazy to do so, or they deliberately ignored it because it exposed uncomfortable truths about their misplaced priorities.”
The response comes after the Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, accused the former vice president of failing to acknowledge the successful rescue of the abducted pupils and teachers nearly 18 hours after the operation.
Onanuga also criticised Atiku for repeatedly faulting the government over the abduction while praising Labour Party’s Peter Obi for publicly reacting to the rescue.
However, Atiku maintained that he had already issued a detailed statement earlier on Saturday titled “A Nation at War Needs a Commander-in-Chief, Not a Campaigner-in-Chief.” In the statement, he welcomed the rescue of the victims and commended the security agencies for their efforts.
The former vice president concluded by urging the Presidency to focus more on addressing the country’s growing security challenges rather than engaging in political disputes over opposition statements.
