Atiku Blasts Tinubu: Nigerians Are Battling Hunger While President Takes European Vacation

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has criticised President Bola Tinubu over his three-week European vacation, arguing that the president’s absence comes at a time when Nigerians are struggling with rising petrol prices, food insecurity, transport costs and broader economic pressures. Atiku’s camp described the situation as evidence that Nigerians are being left to shoulder the consequences of government policies while the president spends an extended period abroad.

The criticism comes amid an intensifying political argument over Tinubu’s economic reforms, particularly fuel-subsidy removal and petrol pricing. Atiku has recently advocated a targeted production-based subsidy, while the Tinubu administration and APC have defended the broader reforms and warned that restoring the old subsidy regime could recreate serious fiscal problems.

Atiku Says Nigerians Are Paying The Price

Atiku, through his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, argued that the continued increase in petrol prices despite softer crude-oil prices shows that the burden of economic adjustment is being transferred directly to Nigerian households. His criticism comes as the opposition ADC intensifies its challenge to Tinubu ahead of the 2027 presidential election.

In the opposition’s telling of events, the Nigerian household has become the government’s unofficial shock absorber: fuel becomes more expensive, transportation follows, food prices feel the pressure and families are expected to simply adjust. Atiku has therefore portrayed the president’s European trip as particularly insensitive, arguing that the country’s economic and security difficulties require strong presidential attention at home.

Tinubu’s Vacation Becomes Another Political Battlefield

President Tinubu departed Abuja on Sunday for a three-week working vacation in Europe, with London reported as his first destination. The Presidency has presented the trip as part of his annual leave rather than an abandonment of official responsibilities, while Atiku and other opposition figures have seized on the timing to question the president’s priorities.

The argument is now bigger than one holiday. It has become another battle over whether Tinubu’s economic reforms are producing meaningful relief for ordinary Nigerians or merely demanding more patience from a population already struggling with the cost of living. Meanwhile, the APC has attacked Atiku’s proposal to restore fuel subsidy, arguing that such a move could undermine government revenues and reverse some of the fiscal gains associated with subsidy removal.

For Atiku, the political message is straightforward: Nigerians should not be asked to celebrate economic statistics while their everyday expenses remain painful. For Tinubu’s administration, the counterargument is that difficult reforms were necessary to correct longstanding fiscal problems and that reversing them could create new economic difficulties. The disagreement is therefore likely to remain central to the political contest ahead of 2027.

OGM News NG will continue to monitor the growing confrontation over Tinubu’s reforms, petrol prices, food costs and the president’s European vacation. With the 2027 political battle already taking shape, Nigerians may soon discover that the argument over who is responsible for today’s economic pain could become one of the biggest campaign issues of tomorrow.