…Former VP criticises Tinubu over cost-of-living crisis

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has lamented the current hardship in Nigeria, stressing that “young Nigerians should be building careers, not selling their kidneys.

In a post on his official X account, Atiku criticised Nigeria’s cost-of-living crisis under President Bola Tinubu, highlighting reports of desperate young people selling kidneys for as little as ₦1.7 million to afford basics like food, rent, and school fees.

His post argued that economic reforms must include a human face focused on affordable essentials, job creation, and hope, instead of pushing youth toward organ trafficking despite existing laws against it.

“I have heard disturbing stories about the extent to which young Nigerians are being driven simply to survive. Perhaps the most horrifying are the growing reports of young people selling parts of their bodies: kidneys in particular, in desperate attempts to raise money,” Atiku wrote.

“Young people should be selling dreams, ideas and innovation, not their body organs.

“Yet when the cost-of-living crisis becomes unbearable, desperation begins to make the unthinkable appear like an option. That should offend the conscience of every Nigerian.

“In Tinubu’s Nigeria, almost everything required to live with dignity is becoming more expensive by the day: food, transport, rent, school fees, medicine and electricity.

“Yet young Nigerians are reportedly being driven to sell their kidneys for as little as ₦1.7 million. That should break the heart of a nation.”

According to him, young Nigerians should be building careers, starting businesses, raising families and pursuing their dreams, not calculating how much parts of their bodies can fetch simply to stay alive.

Atiku lamented that when young Nigerians begin to see their kidneys as emergency savings, we are no longer talking about ordinary economic hardship.

“We are talking about desperation at its most frightening,” the 2023 presidential candidate for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) added.

“Nigeria already has laws prohibiting commercial organ sales and organ trafficking. But laws alone cannot cure the poverty and desperation that make vulnerable young people easy prey for criminal networks.

“No government should celebrate “reforms” while young Nigerians are being reduced to selling parts of themselves to eat, pay rent, settle school fees or survive.”

Economic reform, Atiku explained, must have a human face, adding that it must mean affordable food, cheaper transportation, accessible healthcare, decent jobs and renewed hope for the next generation.

“Our young people should be selling their ideas, talents and innovation to the world and not their kidneys for ₦1.7 million just to survive at home,” he stressed.

According to him, this is the human cost of Nigeria’s cost-of-living crisis, with Atiku positioning himself as the leader who will make Nigeria affordable again, contrasting it with current hardships in a video of himself speaking alongside news clips on alleged organ harvesting cases.

“Tinubu made Nigeria expensive. I will make Nigeria affordable again,” the ADC 2027 presidential candidate added.