Atiku Abubakar has hit back at President Bola Tinubu for blaming the opposition for Nigeria’s hunger and poverty, calling the claim a “delusion.”

Speaking at an APC campaign event, Tinubu had said his opponents created the hardship his government is now trying to fix. Atiku rejected that outright. He noted the APC has held federal power for about 11 years and that Nigerians have every right to judge the government on what it has done.

Atiku said the real cause of the struggle in Nigerian homes and businesses is government policy. He pointed to the removal of the petrol subsidy and the falling value of the naira. He also cited a World Bank estimate that 63 per cent of Nigerians will live below the national poverty line in 2026.

He urged Tinubu to commission the unfinished Abuja-Kaduna Expressway from inside a stadium. To Atiku, that distance from ordinary life tells its own story.

He also demanded answers on the money. Among the questions: why the 2024 budget was extended into 2025, what the separate 2025 budget covers, and where ₦7.13 trillion recorded under energy security in 2024 actually went. He asked about ₦11.2 trillion in pipeline-related spending by the NNPC, an alleged $12.4 billion gap in external accounts in the first half of 2026, and $22.5 million in “other charges” on an Abu Dhabi financing facility.

For Atiku, these are not abstract figures. He tied them to the killings, kidnappings and displacement still gripping communities across the country.

He closed with a warning of sorts: the 2027 presidential election will be a referendum on Tinubu’s record.