Tinubu not serious about attracting FDI to Nigeria — Atiku

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has criticised President Bola Tinubu over the fuel subsidy scam and human rights abuses under his administration, saying the president is not serious about attrating foreign direct investment (FDI) to the country.

In a statement signed by his Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku accused Tinubu’s administration of implementing a fraudulent subsidy regime, as revealed in the financial statement recently released by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).

“Tinubu visited the FMDQ in New York, Qatar, and France, where he told lies about removing petrol subsidies. Obviously, this is not a man who is serious about attracting FDI,” Atiku said.

“More worrisome is that he is not even brave enough to admit that subsidy is being paid. The NNPCL admits that N7.8tn is owed to the national oil company by the Nigerian government.

“The IMF estimates that subsidy payments this year will constitute 3% of GDP, which is about $7.5bn. This will be about N11.8tn. Yet, the petrol scarcity continues to linger while the Tinubu administration continues to frustrate the Dangote Refinery and even its own NNPCL facilities.

“Obviously, the subsidy regime has become an even wider conduit pipe through which monies for funding the 2027 election will come from.”

In a related development, Atiku also criticised the Tinubu administration for the increase in human rights abuses.

The Waziri Adamawa said Tinubu, who rose to power on exaggerated claims of being a freedom fighter, has now turned against the people by allowing the Department of State Services (DSS), police, and even the military to abuse citizens’ rights without consequences.

He noted that in some instances, citizens were arrested in a Gestapo manner without the knowledge of their relatives, who searched for them for several weeks.

The former Vice President said journalists, whose only crime is reporting the news and exposing government indiscretions, have been the most affected since Tinubu took office.

He argued that the CyberCrime Prevention Act 2015 has become a tool for officials in Tinubu’s administration to abduct citizens, while the Nigeria Police Force National Cybercrime Centre (NPF-NCCC) has transformed into the defunct SARS.

Atiku added, “The dangerous trend of enforced disappearances has become a national embarrassment for a country which claims to be practising democracy.

“On May 1, 2024, Daniel Ojukwu of the Foundation for Investigative Journalism went missing and was presumed abducted by kidnappers until he was later discovered to be in police custody on the orders of IGP Kayode Egbetokun.

“Ojukwu’s crime was that he exposed the corruption of a government official who currently serves in Tinubu’s administration. On July 23, the DSS arrested one Aliyu Sanusi in the Sama Road area of Sokoto, the state capital, for printing and distributing materials ahead of the #EndBadGovernanceProtest.

“Even the arrest and release of the former BBC Pidgin Editor and current West Africa Regional Editor of The Conversation, Adejuwon Soyinka, clearly shows a pattern intended to intimidate journalists for speaking truth to this government.

“Now, the police have arrested Bristol Tamunobiefiri, who owns the PIDOM Nigeria blog on X, formerly Twitter. After detaining him for over two weeks, he was granted an administrative bail, which is impossible to meet,” he said.

“This is despite the fact that the Appeal Court, in the case of EFCC V. Emem Uboh (2022) LPEIR – 57968 (CA), held that administrative bail is illegal. Bristol should, therefore, be arraigned in court immediately or released.”

Atiku advised Tinubu to take cases of human rights abuses seriously or risk sanctions that could prevent Western powers from selling weapons to Nigeria, a development that could undermine Nigeria’s ability to tackle insecurity.

He said, “Amnesty International still has a pending petition before the Foreign Committee of the US Congress against the sale of weapons to Nigeria due to human rights concerns in line with the Leahy Law. Tinubu would do well to curb these cases of rights abuses by law enforcement authorities who all report to him as commander-in-chief.”