Return, Nigerians need leadership, not your Paris menu, Atiku tells Tinubu

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has taken a swipe at the Presidency over what he described as misplaced priorities following official announcements detailing President Bola Tinubu’s menu engagements in Paris, France, amid worsening insecurity and economic hardship in Nigeria.

Atiku’s reaction followed the controversy generated by claims that a photograph showing President Tinubu having lunch with Rwandan President Paul Kagame in Paris was doctored. The Presidency later compounded the issue by announcing that Tinubu also had dinner the same evening with Kagame and French President Emmanuel Macron.

According to Atiku, the decision to focus public communication on the President’s meal schedule rather than Nigeria’s deepening crises exposed a troubling disconnect between the government and the suffering of ordinary Nigerians.

In a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku said the Presidency’s response amounted to “a textbook case of misplaced priorities and official shamelessness.”

“The Presidency’s latest ‘Stop Press’ is a textbook case of misplaced priorities and official shamelessness,” the statement read.

“At a moment when Nigerians are crushed by hunger, insecurity, collapsing businesses, and a brutal cost-of-living crisis, the Presidency chose to brief the nation on who the President had lunch with and who he dined with in Paris.”

Describing the development as emblematic of leadership failure, Atiku said Nigerians were not interested in presidential menus but solutions to the country’s escalating challenges.

“That is not leadership. It is tone-deafness in power,” the statement continued.

“While communities in Niger State and other parts of the country are under attack and families can no longer afford basic food, the Presidency is busy explaining camera phones, image quality, and photo editing. By the way, why is Tinubu’s plate empty? Nigerians did not ask for a Paris menu. They asked for leadership.”

Addressing claims by the Presidency that the controversy was driven by artificial intelligence or image forgery, Atiku dismissed the outrage as unconvincing, arguing that public distrust did not emerge in a vacuum.

“On the claim of AI or forgery, the outrage is unconvincing,” the statement said. “A Presidency repeatedly entangled in controversies over forged or questionable documents cannot suddenly pretend to be shocked by public skepticism.

He added that credibility, once eroded, inevitably breeds doubt, accusing the government of deflecting blame instead of confronting the root causes of public distrust.

“When credibility is eroded, doubt follows naturally. Instead of asking why trust has collapsed, the Presidency is lecturing Nigerians and attacking the media.”

Atiku argued that the real deception was not the disputed photograph but the distortion of governance priorities at a time of national emergency.

“The real falsehood is not a photograph. It is the daily distortion of leadership priorities. Nigeria is burning. The Presidency is editing pictures.”

He urged the government to abandon what he described as public relations theatrics and return its focus to urgent governance.

“It is time for the Presidency to abandon public relations theatrics, return home, and confront the emergencies facing Nigerians — hunger, insecurity, and economic collapse — with urgency, humility, and action. That is the minimum Nigerians expect,” he added.