Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar said President Bola Tinubu’s hasty and thoughtless removal of the fuel subsidy has triggered widespread economic hardship, with inflation, hunger, and despair worsening the living conditions of Nigerians.
This is even as he also condemned the arrest and continued detention of labour activist Comrade Andrew Uche Emelieze.
Atiku said his continued detention is an affront to democracy, a slap in the face of every Nigerian worker, and a chilling reminder of the authoritarian drift of the Tinubu administration.
In a statement released on Sunday, Atiku said Tinubu’s promise to pay a N35,000 monthly wage award to federal workers as a temporary measure pending the agreement on a new minimum wage has become a broken covenant.
Comrade Emelieze was said to have been arrested and detained for attempting to organize a peaceful protest to demand the payment of the overdue wage awards.
However, the former presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party lamented that it took the Tinubu’s administration a staggering 10 months to arrive at a new minimum wage figure.
“While several state governments have shown commendable responsibility in managing labour affairs,” Atiku stated, “the Tinubu-led Federal Government has distinguished itself by its utter disdain for workers’ welfare.”
He therefore called for the activist’s immediate and unconditional release, warning that the government’s approach reflects a growing authoritarian trend.
“Nigerian workers will not be silenced, intimidated, or forgotten,” Atiku said. “The economic hardship is real, the hunger is biting, and the government has a duty to act—not to repress.”
