Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, has hit back at former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar over his comment that Nigeria is heading to a failed state under the current administration.
Adeshina accused him of being part of the rot of the country, adding that he cannot “wash himself clean of what Nigeria has become”.
Atiku had also argued that Buhari lacks the capacity to govern the country, and had criticised some of his policies, saying the level of unemployment is unprecedented.
The presidential spokesman who responded while featuring on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, said, “You will recall that in the build-up to the 2015 elections, when the APC was campaigning, the figure that was used by then candidate Buhari was that a minimum of 30 million Nigerians were unemployed, particularly youths and that his government was going to do something about it.
“That was in 2014/2015. So, don’t make it appear like a genie that just came out of the bottle. No, it had always been there. It had always been there.
“The former Vice-President was in power for eight years. Now, he is in the opposition. You can’t take whatever he says as the gospel. The question is when former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar was in government with President Olusegun Obasanjo, where did they take the country?
“Where did they leave the country? I have seen clips on social media where he said some things they promised to do, particularly on power; some people collected some trillions and didn’t deliver… Former Vice-President is part of the rot this country became.
“He cannot exculpate himself; he cannot sit in judgment over anybody. He played his part for eight years and they left the country where they left it. He cannot like Pontius Pilate, begin to wash himself clean of what Nigeria has become”.
