It’s not my fault you can’t read — Atiku fires back at Tinubu over privatisation remark

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has hit back hard at President Bola Tinubu after Tinubu mocked his record on privatisation, calling it “privatisation without accountability.” Atiku’s camp turned the phrase right back, accusing the current administration of doing exactly that with the national oil company.

In a statement through his media aide, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku called Tinubu’s comments “a reckless tirade” that reveals “hypocrisy and historical amnesia.” He pointed out that Tinubu’s government is now implementing reforms it once opposed, and argued that commercialising NNPC happened without clear valuation, transparency, or clarity on who actually benefits.

“This is not reform; it is privatisation without accountability,” Atiku said, flipping Tinubu’s own line.

The most personal swipe was about Tinubu’s academic record. “It is not our fault that the President does not and cannot read, because Bola Tinubu has a history of attending a school in Lagos two years before it was founded, upon which he claimed his crooked Chicago State University degree,” Shaibu said.

Atiku pointed to former Kaduna governor Nasir El-Rufai’s book “The Accidental Public Servant” as documentation that the privatisation programme was “a bold and structured effort to dismantle inefficiency and drive private sector-led growth.”

The exchange marks a sharp escalation in the 2027 framing war. Atiku leads the ADC coalition, which has absorbed several high-profile defectors from both the APC and PDP. Tinubu’s camp has responded by questioning the ADC’s internal cohesion and leadership crisis.

Sources: Politics Nigeria, Matrix NG, Daily Times NG