The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has reacted to President Bola Tinubu’s Independence Day speech.
In a statement released by his media aide Phrank Shaibu, Atiku stated that Tinubu failed to announce an increase in the minimum wage, following the devaluation of naira, after petrol subsidy removal.
READ MORE: US Court Orders Chicago University To Release Tinubu’s Academic Records To Atiku
The former vice president argued that Tinubu’s excuse for not increasing the wage shows that he put the cart before the horse.
Atiku urged the rulling party to stop making excuses for its failure.
According to him: “Many workers were hopeful that minimum wage would be announced today.
“However, what Tinubu decided to do was to add an allowance of N25,000 ($25) to the lowest paid workers for six months only.
“This is a man who is not in sync with the current realities that the people are living in.
“He claimed he refused to increase the minimum wage in order not to worsen the inflation rate. If he cared so much about the inflation rate, he ought to have planned properly before removing the petrol subsidy and forcing the Central Bank to embark on a failed exchange rate unification policy which has not been backed by a corresponding boost in exports
“In effect, Tinubu put the cart before the horse, and now that the horse has trampled on the cart, he is making excuses for his own incompetence. This is shameful.”
Atiku noted that the President was one of the loudest voices against subsidy removal back in 2012 when the Goodluck Jonathan administration decided to remove it.
“Tinubu should bury his face in shame for criticising former presidents for retaining subsidies. Here is a man who described petrol increase back in January 2012 as ‘Jonathan tax’ when subsidy was removed at the time.
“Tinubu told Jonathan to go after the oil thieves rather than Nigerians. Let Tinubu also be brave enough to expose and prosecute the so-called subsidy thieves he loves to reference in every speech. Let Tinubu also be man enough to apologise for sponsoring protests in Lagos back in 2012 over subsidy,” he added.
