Atiku to Tinubu: Address Kanu’s grievances, release El-Rufai, Sheikh Zaria

Presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has called on President Bola Tinubu’s administration to address the grievances surrounding convicted secessionist leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, while providing clarification on the continued detention of Sheikh Sani Khalifa Zaria and former Kaduna State governor, Mallam Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai.

Atiku made the call on Thursday in Abuja during his Independence Day address, where he stressed the need for the rule of law to be applied fairly in all cases.

The former vice president said the government must provide answers on the circumstances surrounding the continued detention of Zaria and El-Rufai, particularly in relation to due process.

“On this day, I call for the rule of law to be applied fairly in every case. The continued detention of Sheikh Sani Khalifa Zaria and Mallam Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai raises questions about due process that the authorities must answer,” he said.

On Kanu, he said, “Following Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s conviction, his right to lawful appeal must be respected, while the grievances and divisions surrounding his case must be addressed seriously.”

Atiku also repeated his call for the release of five young Nigerians arrested in Borno after wearing “Tinubu Must Go” T-shirts.

“A political slogan on a shirt must never become a reason to imprison a Nigerian,” he said.

Marking Nigeria’s 66th Independence anniversary, he said the country had moved far from the vision of its founders, with the past three years of the Tinubu administration worsening the hardship.

“The past three years under Bola Tinubu have plunged Nigeria into the most severe cost of living crisis in our history. Families are not merely tightening their belts. They are skipping meals, delaying treatment and borrowing to survive until payday,” he said.

He said the President was running on promises, not on his record, and took issue with Tinubu’s declaration that “emergency treatment is over” and that the “age of prosperity” has begun.

“A president may announce a new chapter in a speech. He cannot put food onto a family’s table or money into a worker’s pocket,” Atiku said.

He criticised the extension of the 2025 budget to the end of 2026.

“You have just signed an extension keeping the 2025 budget in operation until the last day of 2026. The 2026 budget exists alongside it. Soon, your government will ask Nigerians to examine a 2027 budget. “How many budgets must be open at once before you can tell the country what was funded, what was completed and what remains unpaid?” A budget should be a timetable for delivery, not a ball passed from one year to the next,” he said.

The ADC candidate also demanded an account of the cash transfers claimed by the Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Professor Nentawe Yilwatda, who said more than 10 million Nigerians received ₦75,000 each, at least ₦750 billion in all.

“Professor Yilwatda says many beneficiaries have no phones. So how did your government identify, contact and pay them, particularly in parts of Yobe and Borno where insecurity makes access difficult? Did officials deliver the money by hand? If so, who delivered it, and where are the receipts? If it went into bank accounts, show the transaction records. If you could find ten million people to pay, you can account for the payments,” he said.

On the crippling cost of living, Alike said, “In April 2023, a ₦30,000 minimum wage could buy about 118 litres of petrol. Today, a ₦70,000 minimum wage buys just 50 litres. The salary has more than doubled on paper; the petrol it can buy has fallen by more than half,” he said.

He added that the average price of an egg rose from about ₦88 in April 2023 to ₦261 in May 2026 and that a sliced loaf, about ₦500 in April 2023, averaged about ₦2,000 for a smaller loaf by May 2026.

“If 2023 was the illness, why does your ‘cure’ buy less fuel, fewer eggs and a smaller loaf of bread?” he asked.

On the removal of the fuel subsidy, he said Tinubu “removed the fuel subsidy with one announcement and no credible protection in place for the families who would bear the shock.”

Atiku said if elected, he would “introduce a capped, budgeted production subsidy tied to verified fuel refined in Nigeria, including fuel from modular refineries.”

“Imported petrol will not qualify. The benefit must reach consumers through lower pump prices. We will publish the costs, independently audit the payments and cut government waste to help fund the programme,” he said.

He also pressed the President on transport fares.

“Before I forget, you promised Nigerians lower transport fares from October 1. Today is October 1. Did your promise miss the bus?” he asked.

On public finances, Atiku said, “Nigeria’s public debt stood at ₦166.79 trillion at the end of June, and your government is now discussing another $1.5 billion in World Bank loans. Before you borrow another dollar in the people’s name, tell them what the money already borrowed has delivered.”

He alleged that Hitech, a Chagoury Group company, received the Lagos–Calabar Coastal Highway contract without an open public tender.

“Your government says it used restricted bidding. Then publish the invitations, the bids, the evaluations, the final contract and every variation. Let Nigerians see how this enormous award was decided,” he said.

Atiku also said local contractors who completed government projects remain unpaid, and that military pensioners and federal workers have complained of unpaid entitlements and delayed salaries.

“Pay the outstanding entitlements, publish what remains unpaid, and stop claiming that everyone has been paid in full,” he said.

Turning to security, he said, “A government that cannot make life affordable and cannot protect life has failed the two tests that matter most to its people.”

He recalled the deaths of three people in a stampede at the Niger State Government House, where a crowd gathered amid reports that ₦10,000 would be distributed, and repeated his call “for a full account of how that gathering was organised.”

In the 2027 election, Atiku promised to “respect INEC’s independence, support the prompt publication of results from every polling unit, and insist that anyone caught buying votes or changing results faces the law – even if that person belongs to my party.”

He said the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC would be left to act independently if he is elected.

“Your vote must count as you cast it. You should not need powerful friends to make it count. We have chosen a different course, peacefully and together, through the power of our votes; the message is clear: Tinubu must go,” he declared.

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