‘Nigerians Don’t Need Journalists To Tell Them They’re Hungry’ — Atiku Fires At Tinubu

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has criticised the administration of President Bola Tinubu over recent remarks suggesting that media reports were amplifying perceptions of insecurity and economic hardship in the country.

Atiku, in a statement issued on Wednesday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, argued that Nigerians do not need journalists or media reports to understand the realities of hunger, inflation and insecurity confronting them daily.

“Nigerians do not need journalists to tell them whether they are hungry,” Atiku said.

“The father who goes to bed wondering how to provide the next meal for his family does not need a newspaper report to confirm hardship. The mother who now pays three or four times more for basic food items than she did two years ago does not require a television broadcast to understand inflation.”

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate for 2027 election described attempts to blame the media for highlighting the country’s challenges as a sign of a government increasingly disconnected from the realities facing ordinary citizens.

According to him, millions of Nigerians were grappling with rising food prices, shrinking purchasing power, unemployment and worsening living conditions.

“To suggest that this suffering is exaggerated is to mock the lived experiences of millions of Nigerians. It is to tell citizens that their empty pockets, unpaid bills and empty kitchens are products of imagination,” he said.

Atiku also took issue with comments from government officials regarding insecurity, insisting that the country’s security challenges were evident to citizens without media interpretation.

“The media did not invent the killings in Benue. The media did not invent the massacres in Plateau. The media did not invent the bandit attacks in Zamfara, Katsina and Niger. The media did not invent kidnapping-for-ransom, which has become one of the country’s fastest-growing criminal enterprises,” he stated.

He further criticised suggestions that many kidnapping incidents occur because citizens fail to heed police advisories against travelling at night.

Questioning the implication of such claims, Atiku asked whether the government was effectively admitting that Nigerians can only operate safely for a limited number of hours each day.

“Is the Presidency admitting that Nigerians can only be safe for a few hours of the day? Is this an official declaration that Africa’s largest economy has been reduced to an eight-hour economy where citizens must shut down their businesses, abandon legitimate travel and retreat indoors once the sun sets?” he queried.

The former vice president maintained that the responsibility for securing lives and property rests squarely with government, not citizens.

“What Nigerians expect from their government is not an endless stream of advisories but decisive action. The measure of a secure nation is not how effectively citizens can avoid danger, but how effectively the state can eliminate it,” he said.

Atiku warned that normalising insecurity by shifting responsibility to citizens could undermine economic activity and public confidence in governance.

“A nation cannot prosper when its people are told that safety ends at sunset. Economies grow because people can move freely, trade freely and conduct lawful activities without fear,” he added.

Defending the role of the media in a democracy, Atiku argued that journalists should not be blamed for reporting the consequences of government policies.

“The media exists to report facts, amplify public concerns and give voice to citizens. Blaming journalists for reporting insecurity and hardship is like blaming a thermometer for a fever,” he said.

He concluded by urging the Tinubu administration to focus on addressing the country’s economic and security challenges rather than disputing public perceptions.

“Nigeria does not need explanations for suffering. Nigeria needs solutions. Nigeria does not need lectures about perception. Nigeria needs results,” Atiku stated.