From Victor Osula, Abuja
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has berated President Bola Tinubu’s visit to Plateau State, describing it as “a mockery of leadership and a display of insensitivity,” accusing the President of prioritising politics over compassion for Nigerians grappling with insecurity.
Tinubu had on Saturday travelled to Jos to attend the funeral prayers of the late Nana Lydia Yilwatda Goshwe, mother of All Progressives Congress (APC) National Chairman, Prof. Nantewe Yilwatda Goshwe.
Atiku faulted the decision, arguing that Tinubu should have used the visit to commiserate with victims of violence in Plateau, one of the states worst hit by insecurity.
“With large swathes of the country still under siege from unrelenting attacks and thousands of 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 console grieving citizens,” Atiku said.
The PDP presidential candidate in the 2023 election described the trip as “a sad reflection of priorities,” stressing that while families in Plateau buried loved ones, the President “chose to grace a political funeral rather than stand with the people in their darkest hour.”
He accused the APC leadership of showing “a heartless disregard for empathy, compassion, and the dignity of human life,” noting that the North Central region, from Benue to Niger and most recently Kwara, had continued to suffer violent attacks without direct presidential sympathy.
Recalling Tinubu’s earlier visit to Benue, Atiku alleged that the President “never bothered to set foot in Yelewata, the epicentre of the massacre,” but instead restricted his trip to Makurdi.
“Now again, he is in Plateau State, not to console the bereaved or reassure the broken, but to celebrate 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 declared.
He warned that Nigerians were watching closely and would not forget the government’s actions, or, inaction in their time of grief.
