ADC Slams Shettima For Mocking Atiku’s School At Economic Summit Instead Of Addressing Hardship

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) Presidential Campaign Council has criticised Vice President Kashim Shettima for mocking former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s educational background at the 32nd Nigerian Economic Summit in Abuja, instead of addressing the hardship facing Nigerians.

In a statement signed by its Director of Strategic Communication, Phrank Shaibu, on Monday, October 26, 2026, the campaign said Shettima had an opportunity to explain why Nigerians are struggling to afford fuel, transport and food, but chose to attack Atiku for attending the Kano School of Hygiene.

“While Shettima debates school records, families are skipping meals, workers cannot afford the journey to work, and his government calls their suffering reform,” the statement said.

*“What Is Shameful About Atiku’s Education?”*

The ADC argued that there was nothing shameful about Atiku’s education, noting that he completed secondary school, pursued further training and built a career through work.

“Millions of Nigerians have travelled the same road. Their parents sacrificed to get them into the schools they could afford; they studied, worked and rose. Shettima looked at that struggle and saw something to laugh at,” Shaibu said.

The campaign turned the scrutiny to President Bola Tinubu, urging Shettima to explain alleged discrepancies in the President’s academic records.

According to the statement, a document in Tinubu’s Chicago State University records lists him as having graduated from Government College Lagos in 1970, four years before the school was established in 1974.

“Shettima should explain how a man graduates from a school before it exists, instead of mocking Atiku for attending a school whose doors were open,” the ADC said.

The campaign also raised the issue of names, claiming that the NYSC certificate Tinubu submitted to INEC bears the name “Tinubu Bola Adekunle,” a discrepancy Atiku has challenged in court.

It added that Tinubu’s Chicago State University documents remain the subject of litigation in the United States, and that questions raised about documents submitted for his election must be answered.

The ADC further referenced the documented 1993 forfeiture in Chicago, arising from a narcotics investigation, noting that a separate U.S. case concerning the release of records from that investigation remains a matter of public interest.

Responding to Shettima’s claim that Atiku wants Nigerians to “backslide into penury,” the ADC said poverty is already the reality for many families.

It cited World Bank estimates that nearly seven in ten Nigerians will live below its lower middle income poverty line in 2026, while 35 million people face acute food insecurity.

“Poverty is not a future threat to these families. It is the life they are struggling through today,” the statement said.

“A parent choosing between transport to work and food for the children does not need Shettima to explain penury. His remark shows how far this government has drifted from the people it serves.”

The campaign said Atiku has proposed a targeted, capped and independently audited subsidy tied to petrol refined in Nigeria.

“If Shettima thinks it cannot be funded, he should show his figures and offer a better way to lower prices. Insulting Atiku will not fill a cooking pot, pay a bus fare or put fuel in a tank,” Shaibu said.

The ADC concluded that Atiku has nothing to be ashamed of, and accused Shettima of choosing to laugh at honest education while the nation is weighed down by hunger.

“After three and a half years in the saddle, Nigerians have seen the bitter consequences of allowing a man with a forged education to become President. Tinubu is an error the Nigerian electorate made in 2023, and on January 16, 2027, the whole country will be impatient to correct that error,” the statement said.

“Shettima and Bola may be too far removed from ordinary homes to hear the anger building inside them. Those homes will have a voice at the ballot box. Nigerians will answer the Vice President’s mockery and his boss’s record with their votes.”