APC Rebukes Atiku, Obi, Amaechi Over 'Weaponizing Poverty' Allegations
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has strongly rejected recent allegations by leading opposition figures—Atiku Abubakar (PDP), Peter Obi (Labour Party), Rotimi Amaechi, and Nasir El-Rufai—accusing President Bola Tinubu's administration of "weaponizing poverty" for political advantage.
In a statement issued by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Felix Morka, the APC described the allegations as “baseless” and a “shameless attempt to preserve and return to the old rent-seeking economy that enriched a select few at the expense of the Nigerian people.”
The party claimed that these critics, many of whom previously held powerful positions in government, had benefited from a “corrupt and inefficient economic system” and are now “uncomfortable” with Tinubu’s reform agenda, which it says is dismantling entrenched systems of patronage.
The APC singled out Rotimi Amaechi, questioning his moral standing to comment on poverty, citing his long career in public office—eight years as Governor of Rivers State, eight years as Minister of Transportation, and earlier as Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly. According to the party, Amaechi had “freeloaded” on public resources during his tenure without making a significant impact on poverty alleviation.
Responding to Amaechi’s recent public remark, “I am hungry,” the APC interpreted it as an admission of political disenfranchisement, not economic hardship. “When Amaechi declared, ‘I am hungry,’ he must be understood to mean he is hungry for a return to state patronage,” the statement read.
The party further claimed that the growing criticism of Tinubu’s economic policies stems from the opposition’s frustration with losing influence over the economy. “These self-serving attacks are driven by a desperate quest to regain power and reinstate a system that rewarded rent-seeking and stifled national productivity,” Morka said.
The APC placed blame for the country’s current economic challenges on what it described as the “failures of previous administrations,” particularly the 16 years of PDP rule, which, it said, resisted allowing the Naira to reflect its true market value.
The party accused the opposition figures of failing to address poverty or implement structural reforms while in office. “Throughout their collective 24 years in various leadership positions, they neither eradicated poverty nor tackled the systemic distortions that weakened the economy,” the statement noted. It also accused them of selling national assets to cronies, mismanaging public funds, and sponsoring political violence.
In contrast, the APC defended Tinubu’s economic reforms as necessary and unprecedented. “In just two years, President Tinubu has demonstrated the political will to confront the country’s long-standing structural challenges more decisively than any president in recent Nigerian history,” the statement concluded.
