Rice distribution not governance, Nigerians aren’t beggars – Atiku slams Tinubu, First Lady

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has condemned what he described as the weaponization of hunger and poverty through the distribution of food items in Northern Nigeria.

His spokesperson, Phrank Shaibu, made this known in a statement on Friday, Worker’s Day.

Atiku described the recent spectacle involving the First Lady, Oluremi Tinubu, flagging off the distribution of 100 trucks of rice and N1.2 billion in palliatives to northern states and the FCT as a calculated political performance staged on the altar of mass hardship.

He said, “What Nigerians are witnessing today is the tragic normalization of poverty under the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Families can no longer afford basic meals, inflation has ravaged household incomes, and millions are being pushed daily into extreme deprivation.

“Yet, instead of addressing the structural causes of this crisis, the government has chosen the path of optics—distributing food in carefully choreographed ceremonies while the underlying suffering deepens.

“Since 2023, Northern farmers have suffered declining productivity due to the Tinubu administration’s policy failures and its inability to secure farmlands. Vast agricultural belts have been abandoned to insecurity, leaving farmers displaced and food supply chains severely weakened.

“Ironically, the same government and its promoters now seek to exploit the resulting hardship by turning food into a campaign tool. What the North truly needs is genuine, sustainable food security policies—not campaign lunch packs wrapped in party insignia.

“It is even more troubling that this pattern did not begin today. During Ramadan last year, the president’s son, Seyi Tinubu, embarked on a widely publicized distribution of food items across parts of the North—an exercise presented as charity but clearly designed to test the waters of this now entrenched strategy of politicizing hunger. What was then an experiment has now evolved into a full-blown policy of optics over substance.

“Let it be said without equivocation: Nigerians are not beggars to be pacified with periodic handouts while their livelihoods collapse.”

Recall that Nigeria’s first lady, on Thursday, unveiled an initiative to distribute N1.2 billion worth of rice as palliative to Nigerians.