•ADC challenges president, APC to address poverty, insecurity, not Atiku
•Campaign with your scorecard, Momodu tells Tinubu

Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has accused the President Bola Tinubu administration of presiding over an increasingly hostile business environment, alleging that 767 factories had shut down while 335 others were operating under severe distress.

Atiku said the closures and difficulties facing manufacturers contradicted the federal government’s claims that its economic reforms were restoring growth and improving the business environment.

The former vice president, who is the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), stated this in response to the Presidency’s defence of President Tinubu’s economic record.

In a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, PhrankShaibu, Atiku said the government’s claims of economic prosperity were largely confined to official statements and had not been reflected in the experiences of businesses and ordinary Nigerians.

According to him, the administration was celebrating Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth and other macroeconomic indicators while manufacturers, small businesses and households faced rising operating costs and declining purchasing power.

He said the closure of hundreds of factories and the distress faced by many others reflected the pressure from high energy costs, multiple taxes, expensive logistics, rising electricity tariffs, and weak consumer demand.

Atiku argued that government policies could not be considered successful if they increased public revenue while reducing the economy’s productive capacity.

The former vice president said tax reforms should be designed to encourage production, create jobs and expand the tax base rather than place additional pressure on struggling businesses.

He also questioned the government’s borrowing policy, saying the debate should not focus solely on Nigeria’s debt-to-GDP ratio but on the economic value generated by borrowed funds.

Regretting that businesses continued to spend heavily on alternative electricity sources, while high logistics costs and poor infrastructure remained major obstacles to production, the former vice president said infrastructure should be assessed by its economic impact rather than by the number of projects announced or commissioned by the government.

He also challenged the presidency’s explanation concerning crude-backed financing arrangements, arguing that the government had admitted that future oil earnings had been committed in ways that limited the country’s ability to benefit from favourable crude oil prices.

Atiku said the government could not claim fiscal prudence while failing to provide full details of arrangements involving future crude oil revenues.

MEANWHILE, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) has challenged President Bola Tinubu and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to focus on addressing the country’s worsening economic and security challenges rather than what it described as an “obsession” with the party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.

In a statement issued yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, the ADC accused the APC of diverting attention from pressing national issues by attacking Atiku and critics of the government, rather than responding to concerns about poverty, insecurity, and the rising cost of living.

According to the ADC, the ruling party has adopted a pattern of attacking individuals and groups that draw attention to the country’s challenges rather than providing solutions.

INanother development, a chieftain of ADC, Dele Momodu, has urged Tinubu to seek re-election in 2027 based on the performance of his administration rather than political rhetoric, saying Nigerians will judge the government by its record in office.

Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily yesterday, the Ovation Magazine publisher said the outcome of the 2027 presidential election would largely depend on how Nigerians assess the performance of the ruling All Progressives Congress.

According to him, the president does not face personal animosity from Nigerians but must convince voters that his administration has delivered tangible results.

The ADC chieftain also criticised the APC for continuing to blame previous administrations for the country’s economic and governance challenges despite having governed Nigeria since 2015.

He argued that if the Tinubu administration inherited a struggling economy, Nigerians should evaluate it based on the steps it had taken to improve the country’s fortunes.