Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has delivered a scathing rebuttal to President Bola Tinubu’s Independence Day address, tearing apart the president’s glowing claims of progress and declaring, “The pot is not only empty but cracked — and the people remain hungry.”
While Tinubu boasted of “turning the corner” with reforms in education, healthcare, security and the economy, Atiku said Nigerians know the bitter truth in their stomachs, pockets, and daily struggles.
“The yam may be plentiful, but if the pot is empty, the stomach still rumbles,” his statement thundered.
He dismissed Tinubu’s education boasts, saying, “Pupils still sit on bare floors and write in dust, while teachers abandon classrooms because their salaries cannot buy food.”
On healthcare, he charged, “Our mothers and fathers still carry candles, syringes, and drugs into wards before treatment can begin. A man who builds many huts without roofs has only built shade for goats.”
Slamming the economic hardships, Atiku said: “Food prices are higher than the rooftops, transport has swallowed incomes, and many families now eat less than one meal a day. If these are the ‘seeds’ of reform, then the fruit is still bitter.”
On security, his words cut deep: “Nigerians still sleep with one eye open, and families still pay ransom as if it were the daily price of garri. Villages continue to bury their dead… the killing of Arise TV anchor Somtochukwu this week is a painful reminder that no one is safe in today’s Nigeria.”
Taking aim at Tinubu’s poverty relief claims, he asked, “We were told billions have been disbursed to poor households. Nigerians ask simply: where? If the yam was truly cooked, neighbours would perceive the aroma.”
Atiku said Nigeria’s 65th Independence should be a moment of sober reflection, not empty praise.
“A masquerade does not clap for itself. Nigerians are not clapping, because the music they hear is hunger, insecurity, and despair. Statistics do not fill cooking pots, and PowerPoint slides do not light up homes.”
“The yam is there,” he concluded, “but the pot remains empty.”
