‘Presidency Ignored My Statement’ — Atiku Rejects Silence Claim Over Oriire Rescue
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has accused the Presidency of ignoring his public statement welcoming the rescue of the abducted Oriire pupils and teachers before alleging that he remained silent on the development.
Former Vice President and African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has dismissed the Presidency’s claim that he failed to react to the rescue of the abducted pupils and teachers from Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State, insisting he had publicly welcomed the operation and commended the security agencies involved.
In a statement issued on Saturday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku described the allegation as a distortion of facts, saying the Presidency ignored documentary evidence already in the public domain. According to him, there were only two possible explanations for the accusation.
“It is astonishing that a Presidency with limitless public resources could accuse someone of silence without carrying out the most basic verification.
“Either they failed to read our statement because they were too lazy to do so, or they deliberately ignored it because it exposed uncomfortable truths about their misplaced priorities,” Atiku said.
His reaction followed comments by President Bola Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, who accused the former vice president of failing to acknowledge the release of the Oriire pupils and teachers nearly 18 hours after they regained their freedom.
Onanuga also contrasted Atiku’s response with that of Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi, whom he commended for publicly reacting to the successful rescue.
However, Atiku maintained that he had already issued a detailed statement titled, “A Nation at War Needs a Commander-in-Chief, Not a Campaigner-in-Chief,” in which he welcomed the rescue and praised the military and other security agencies for their courage, professionalism and sacrifice.
He said the Presidency’s allegation that he remained silent was false, insisting that his earlier statement was publicly available before the criticism was made.
“What we declined to do was to applaud a Commander-in-Chief who, at a defining moment of national importance, remained publicly preoccupied with partisan political activities instead of personally leading the nation in celebrating the success of our troops and reassuring families whose loved ones remain in captivity,” he stated.
While welcoming the rescue of the Oriire victims, Atiku said many Nigerians remained in the custody of kidnappers and terrorists, including children abducted in parts of Borno State.
He urged the Presidency to devote more attention to tackling the country’s security challenges than engaging in political disputes with the opposition.
“A government secure in its performance does not invent silence where there was a documented public statement. It responds to legitimate concerns with facts and results, not propaganda,” he said.
Reiterating his earlier position, Atiku argued that Nigeria needed “a Commander-in-Chief, not a Campaigner-in-Chief,” urging President Tinubu to personally lead national conversations on security and reassure families of victims still in captivity.
He also called on the Federal Government to sustain military operations against terrorists, bandits and kidnappers until every abducted Nigerian regains freedom.
The Oriire pupils and teachers, abducted on May 15, regained their freedom on Friday after spending 57 days in captivity, in an operation the Presidency said involved no negotiation with their abductors.
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