Onanuga also accused the former PDP presidential candidate of supervising a questionable privatisation programme as VP
By Kehinde Okeowo
The Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga has launched a counter-attack on Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) 2023 presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, after he claimed he would have done better if he emerged as Nigeria’s president in 2023
TheNiche had earlier reported that the former Vice President reeled out a number of measures he would have adopted to salvage the Nigerian economy.
Speaking via a statement he personally signed, Atiku accused the present administration of indulging in “trial-and-error economic policies”, saying he would have acted differently if elected President.
He said: “I’ve been inundated with inquiries of what I would have done differently if I were at the helm of affairs of our country. I am not the president, Tinubu is. The focus should be on him and not on me or any other. I believe that such inquiries distract from the critical questions of what President Bola Tinubu needs to do to save Nigerians from the excruciating pains arising from his trial-and-error economic policies
“We would have planned better and more robustly: My journey of reforms would have benefited from more adequate preparations; more sufficient diagnostic assessment of the country’s conditions; more consultations with key stakeholders; and better ideas for the final destination.
“We would have been guided by my robust reform agenda as encapsulated in ‘My Covenant with Nigerians’, my policy document that sought to, among others, protect our fragile economy against much deeper crisis by preventing business collapse; our document had spelt out policies that were consistent and coherent.”
Reacting to his statement, Onanuga, said if Atiku had won the 2023 presidential election, he would have plunged Nigeria into economic quagmire than it is today.
He went on to accuse him of trying to discredit President Tinubu’s economic reform programmes while pushing his untested agenda as a better alternative.
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He also said Atiku’s ideas lacked details and were rejected by Nigerians in the 2023 poll.
“If he had won the election, we believe he would have plunged Nigeria into a worse situation or run a regime of cronyism.
“Abubakar lost the election partly because he vowed to sell the NNPC and other assets to his friends. Nigerians have not forgotten this, nor would they be comforted by Atiku’s antecedents when he ran the economy in the first term of President Olusegun Obasanjo’s government between 1999 and 2003,” Onanuga stated.
He further accused the former PDP presidential candidate of supervising a questionable privatisation programme.
“Talk is cheap. It is easy to pontificate and deride a rival’s programmes even when there are irrefutable indices that the economic reforms yield positives despite the temporary difficulties.
“Despite the futile attempt to hoodwink Nigerians again in his statement, it is gratifying that the former Vice President could not repudiate the economic reforms pursued by the Tinubu administration because they are the right things to do.
“His advocacy for a gradualist approach only showed that he was not in tune with the enormity of problems inherited by President Tinubu.
“It is so easy to paint a flowery to-do list. It is expected of an election loser.
“President Tinubu met a country facing several grave challenges. Fuel subsidies were siphoning away enormous resources we could ill afford, and there was criminal arbitrage in the forex market.
“No leader worth his name will allow these two economic disorders to persist without moving to end them surgically.
“While advocating for gradual reforms may sound appealing, Tinubu took measures that should have been taken decades ago by Alhaji Abubakar and his boss when they had the opportunity.
“Alhaji Abubakar calls for empathy and a human face to reforms. We have no problem with this as it resonates well with our administration’s focus. President Tinubu has consistently emphasised the need for compassion and protection of the most vulnerable.
“The administration has prioritised social safety nets and targeted support for those affected by recent economic transitions,” the presidential aide added.
