Atiku faults Tinubu’s Plateau visit, says President ignored grieving Nigerians

Former Vice President and 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has criticised President Bola Tinubu’s visit to Plateau State on Saturday, accusing him of prioritising party events over the suffering of ordinary Nigerians.

Tinubu had attended the funeral of Mama Lydia Yilwatda, mother of the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Chairman, Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, held at the Church of Christ in Nations (COCIN) headquarters in Jos, the Plateau State capital.

Reacting in a post on his official X handle, Atiku described the President’s visit as “a sad reflection of priorities and a mockery of leadership,” saying it was disappointing that Tinubu travelled to the North Central state for a social event instead of visiting victims of the region’s persistent insecurity.

“With large swathes of the country still under siege from unrelenting insecurity and thousands of innocent lives lost, it is deeply unfortunate that President Bola Tinubu has not, for once, found it worthy to visit any of the affected states to commiserate with the grieving citizens,” Atiku said.

He expressed regret that Tinubu chose to honour a partisan engagement “under the auspices of his party’s national chairman” rather than console communities traumatised by violence.

“Between the APC National Chairman and his President, what we witnessed today is a heartless exhibition of disregard for empathy, compassion, and the dignity of human life,” he added.

Atiku also faulted the administration’s response to security crises in states such as Benue, Niger, and Kwara, noting that despite repeated attacks, the President has yet to personally visit any of the affected areas.

He recalled that even during Tinubu’s June visit to Benue, “he never bothered to set foot in Yelewata, the epicentre of the massacre,” accusing the President of “preferring comfort over compassion.”

“Now again, he is in Plateau State, not to console the bereaved or reassure the broken, but to celebrate and make merry with his party elite while the people mourn. The message could not be clearer: this is a President who would rather feast than feel—a leader who finds pleasure where the people find pain,” Atiku said.

He further warned that Nigerians were taking note of the President’s actions, saying “the people are watching, and they will remember.”

During the funeral service, President Tinubu called for unity, peace, and tolerance, urging residents of Plateau to “shun religious and ethnic differences” and live together in harmony.