By Frank Momoh
Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate under PDP in the February 23 election on Saturday, said, Nigerians in the past four years have been living in multi-dimensional poverty.
On the UNDP and other international reports indicting the present administration of persistent poverty in the country, he said in a statement signed by his Media Aide, Paul Ibe, that it is regrettably that the administration has been groping in the dark since 2015.
He said the reason majority of Nigerians decided not to reward their failures during the February 23 presidential poll consequently leading to the heist that characterized the conduct of that poll.
The statement said: “On July 10, the United Nations reawakened Nigerians to the brutal reality of how poorly the President Muhammadu Buhari administration has managed the nation’s economy with a damning verdict that 98 million Nigerians live in multi-dimensional poverty.
“Like it is typical of Buhari and his handlers, they didn’t make any comment about the scary statistics coming from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
“Perhaps, one reason they didn’t want to comment on the report is because it is factual – Nigerians in the past four years indeed live in multi-dimensional poverty.
“The other plausible reason they didn’t deem it fit to respond to the report is because Atiku, has yet to make a remark on the report.”
Atiku, stressed further: “A Commander-in-Chief, who fits the bill will not act unconstrained about reports from a reputable media organization on welfare and well-being of troops at the front-line of combat.
“Shamefully, however, up till this moment the Buhari administration won’t cause even a blinker on the damning report. Like is the case with other dysfunctional aspects of the system, his (Buhari’s) administration prefers to live in denial, relying on propaganda – the only machine that they know how to operate without a glitch.
“We need to restate that Atiku respects the practical purpose of the judiciary as an arm of government saddled with the responsibility of dispensing justice.
“Therefore, for the Buhari administration to call out the judiciary on how they might choose to do their job is not only an emotional blackmail to the bench, it is also very disrespectful to the integrity of the honourable justices of the court of law.”