Dare Babalola
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has faulted the trip of President Bola Tinubu to Plateau State to attend funeral prayers for Nana Yilwatda Goshwe, mother of All Progressives Congress (APC) Chairman, Prof. Nantewe Yilwatda.
In a statement he personally signed on Saturday, the presidential hopeful berated Tinubu for finding time to travel for the burial while ignoring states faced with insecurity with thousands of lives lost since he became president.
Describing the president’s social visit Plateau as a heartless exhibition of disregard for the dignity of human life, Atiku noted that Nigerians will remember that Tinubu preferred to “feast than feel” the pain of the people.
He wrote, “With large swathes of the country still under siege from unrelenting insecurity and thousands of innocent lives lost, it is deeply unfortunate that President Bola Tinubu has not, for once, found it worthy to visit any of the affected states to commiserate with the grieving citizens.
“Today, however, the President suddenly remembered Plateau State — one of the most terrorized parts of the North Central — not to share in the people’s pain, but to attend a social event under the auspices of his party’s national chairman.
“It is a sad reflection of priorities and a glaring mockery of leadership that while families in Plateau continue to bury their loved ones, President Tinubu chose to grace a political funeral rather than stand with the people in their darkest hour.
“Between the APC National Chairman and his President, what we witnessed today is a heartless exhibition of disregard for empathy, compassion, and the dignity of human life.”
The former Vice President continued, “From Benue to Niger and most recently Kwara, the entire North Central region has endured some of the most horrific waves of violence in recent history. Yet, not once has the APC-led government deemed it necessary to physically stand by the victims or console their families.
“Even when Tinubu made a symbolic visit to Benue State in June, he never bothered to set foot in Yelewata — the epicentre of the massacre. Instead, he ended his trip comfortably in Makurdi, turning his back on the people whose tears and blood still stain the soil.
“Now again, he is in Plateau State, not to console the bereaved or reassure the broken, but to celebrate and make merry with his party elite while the people mourn.
0The message could not be clearer: this is a President who would rather feast than feel – a leader who finds pleasure where the people find pain.
“The Nigerian people are watching — and they will remember.”
Earlier, Presidential Spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga, said the president’s will address northern church leaders at the COCIN Church headquarters in Jos during the visit.
