Phrank Shaibu, Special Assistant on Public Communication to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, on Wednesday launched acerbic attacks on President Bola Tinubu’s Independence Day national broadcast to the nation, dismissing his claims of progress as “empty rhetoric divorced from the daily struggles of Nigerians.”
Shaibu, who stated this through a statement issued after Tinubu’s speech, warned that while Tinubu painted a picture of resilience and reform, ordinary Nigerians are battling hunger, insecurity and despair.
“The yam may be plentiful, but if the pot is empty, the stomach still rumbles. Today, Nigeria’s pot is not only empty but cracked, and the people remain hungry”, he declared.
President Tinubu, in his broadcast, celebrated increases in schools, hospitals and reforms in the economy. But the citizen’s rejoinder struck back with biting proverbs, insisting that classrooms remain bare, hospitals lack basic facilities and citizens cannot feel the impact of claimed reforms.
“A man who builds many huts without roofs has only built shade for goats,” the statement said, noting that while the government boasts of infrastructure, pupils still learn on bare floors and patients must supply their own candles and drugs before receiving treatment.
Shaibu also painted a grim picture of daily life, noting that while food prices have skyrocketed, transport costs have eroded wages and millions of households now struggle to afford a single meal.
“If these are the seeds of reforms, then the fruit is still bitter. When the roof is on fire, it is folly to declare the rain has quenched it”, Shaibu wrote.
While President Tinubu praised the armed forces, Nigerians, the statement argued, remain unsafe. Banditry, kidnapping and robbery continue unchecked.
According to Shaibu, the tragic killing of Somtochukwu Maduagwu, a young Arise TV news anchor, in a robbery attack just this week as proof that “no one – not even the voices that bring us the news – is safe in today’s Nigeria.”
