Atiku was one of Buhari's main challengers during the 2019 general elections which was the latter's disastrous second term in office.
Former Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar, in what has been called a Sallah tour to Nigerian leaders, visited former President, Muhammadu Buhari, in Daura, Katsina State, on Saturday.
Atiku was one of Buhari's main challengers during the 2019 general elections which was the latter's disastrous second term in office.
According to AbdulRasheed Shehu, the Special Assistant to Atiku on Broadcast Media, the former Vice President was in Daura to pay a courtesy call and offer Sallah homage to Buhari.
The visit is, however, coming few days after Atiku paid sallah homage to former Heads of State, Ibrahim Babangida and Abdusalami Abubakar in Niger State.
Among those who accompanied Atiku on the visit was Aminu Tambuwal, former Sokoto State Governor and the 12th Speaker of the House of Representatives.
SaharaReporters weeks ago reported a series of Atiku's severe criticisms of the President Bola Tinubu's administration.
In one of such, Atiku had called on the Tinubu’s administration to come clean on the issue of fuel subsidy removal.
"Nigerians deserve better than this deception," he had said.
According to Atiku, in 2023 when President Tinubu announced that fuel subsidy had been removed, Nigerian spent N3.6trillion on it.
"President Bola Tinubu, at his inauguration on May 29, 2023, announced the abolishment of the subsidy on PMS, popularly known as fuel," Atiku had said. "Ever since, it has been a bragging right of Tinubu and officials of his administration."
He had added, "I had in my statement reviewing the one year of the Bola Tinubu administration urged the government to come clean on the actual position of the subsidy policy.”
He said in his statement, he urged the government to "...provide clarity on the fuel subsidy regime, including the fiscal commitments and benefits from the fuel subsidy reform and the impact of this on the Federation Accounts”.
"It is curious that since April 2024, fuel queues have mounted at many filling stations across Nigeria, and the infamous ‘black market’ has sprouted in several states. How much PMS is being imported and distributed, and at what cost? What is the implicit subsidy?" he said.
Atiku, therefore, asked, "If the subsidy regime had been characterised by opaqueness, what would we say of a situation where the subsidy is still being paid under the cover without Nigerians in the know?
"Like millions of Nigerians, I was shocked to learn through media reports that the ‘government is still supporting downstream consumption.’
"Now we know that expenditure on fuel subsidy may reach N5.4 trillion in 2024, compared to the N3.6 trillion spent in 2023, the same year that Tinubu claimed to have abolished fuel subsidy.”
"I wish to restate that Nigeria is not working, and what we have had in a little over a year is a cocktail of trial-and-error economic policies. Paying subsidies and lying about it is nothing to brag about. Nigerians deserve better than this deception," he said.