The presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has criticised President Bola Tinubu over his comparison of fuel subsidy relief to asking Moses to return to Egypt, saying the analogy exposes “how little he understands the suffering of Nigerians”.

Atiku, in a statement issued on his behalf by Phrank Shaibu, Director of Strategic Communication of the ADC Presidential Campaign Council, said Tinubu boasted of removing the fuel subsidy on his first day in office “like a wicked king recounting the suffering he had inflicted as a triumph”.

“Bola, you are the Egypt Nigerians are desperate to escape. You celebrate the day you made fuel more expensive, then lecture families struggling to pay for food and transport about why they must never go back.”

Atiku said that while Pharaoh knew he was holding people captive, Tinubu was watching families cut meals, workers spend their salaries on transport and businesses struggle to keep their lights on, yet telling them a story about Moses.

He further said the President might quote scripture but governed like Pharaoh, Herod and Ahab combined, describing him as deaf to the cries of the people, proud of the hardship he had imposed and convinced that power excused him from answering for it.

“Bola, a mother trying to feed her children cannot pay for food with a metaphor. A worker cannot get to work on a story about the Red Sea. Nigerians are asking how you intend to make life affordable. Answer them.

“I will make life affordable again through practical relief Nigerians can feel. My proposal is clear: give limited, budgeted support only to verified petroleum products refined in Nigeria and sold to Nigerians. Imported fuel gets nothing. 

“Independent auditors must track every naira, and the benefit must reach consumers in the price they pay. If it does not lower that price, it has failed its purpose.”

Atiku said economic hardship was not the only form of captivity Nigerians faced, arguing that Tinubu’s failure on security could not be buried under the record of his predecessor, former President Muhammadu Buhari.

He said Tinubu sought the presidency knowing that communities were under attack, families were paying ransom and children were afraid to travel to school, adding that the President took the oath of office to protect them.

Atiku also faulted a remark attributed to Tinubu’s campaign Director-General, who reportedly asked, “What do you expect Tinubu to do when even Buhari, a general, could not wipe out insecurity?”

Responding to the argument, Atiku said former President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua was not a sergeant but had nevertheless stamped out insecurity.

“Nigerians expect their President to confront the killers, rescue the abducted and make it possible to travel, farm, work and sleep without fear. 

“If Tinubu cannot tell them how he will do that after more than three years in office, he has no business asking for four more years.

“The lives lost under his watch are not an argument about his predecessor. They are an indictment of his own leadership.”

The ADC presidential candidate also criticised the welfare conditions of police officers, questioning how the President could demand courage from officers deployed to protect Nigerians while leaving them worried about feeding their families and facing destitution in retirement.

He said a retired Assistant Superintendent of Police had told him that he received ₦29,000 monthly, while serving officers were drawing down their pension savings to feed their families.

“And look at what Tinubu asks of the officers sent to protect us. A retired Assistant Superintendent told me he receives ₦29,000 a month. Serving officers are drawing down their pension savings to feed their families. 

“How can a President demand courage from police officers in the field while leaving them worried about food at home and destitution in retirement?”

Atiku called on Tinubu to respond to retired officers demanding pensions they could live on, urging him to act on the Police Exit Bill and review the salaries of serving officers, as had been done for members of the Armed Forces.

“Bola, answer the retired officers asking for a pension they can live on. Act on the Police Exit Bill and review serving officers’ salaries, as was done for members of the Armed Forces. 

“Give the people who protect Nigerians the pay, healthcare and retirement security their service has earned.”

Atiku concluded by rejecting Tinubu’s use of the Egypt analogy, arguing that millions of Nigerians were already experiencing hunger, fear and indignity under the current administration.

“Stop pointing to Egypt as though it lies behind us. For millions of Nigerians, Egypt is the hunger, fear and indignity they are living through under you.

“They deserve affordable fuel, safe communities and police officers who can serve without sacrificing their families’ future. Tinubu made life expensive. I will make life affordable again.”