Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has taken a swipe at Senator Adams Oshiomhole, accusing the former APC national chairman of resorting to “dishonest noise-making” to cover up what he described as the ruling party’s catastrophic record in government.
Oshiomhole had derided Atiku as a habitual defector after the PDP stalwart formally joined the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
But in a blistering statement on Tuesday, Atiku’s Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, said Oshiomhole had no moral justification to criticise Atiku, arguing that the Edo senator’s political history and the APC’s track record disqualify him from lecturing anyone on leadership.
“Oshiomhole should look in the mirror before making pronouncements,” Shaibu said. “He is trying to divert public attention from the monumental damage done by the APC—the same party he helped midwife and which has pushed Nigeria into its worst state in decades.”
He dismissed Oshiomhole’s comments as “a tired, recycled distraction,” adding that Atiku never personalised the PDP or ran it like the APC, which he described as a “political corporation owned and directed from Bourdillon.”
“If Oshiomhole is searching for who turned a political party into a one-man empire, he should look no further than the godfather he serves,” Shaibu said. “Under the APC, internal democracy collapsed, dissent became a punishable offence, and national institutions were turned into tools of partisan warfare.”
Shaibu also highlighted Atiku’s contribution to national development, recalling his leadership of the National Economic Council and his role in strengthening the private sector and restoring investor confidence.
“Atiku has never even been President, yet his reform agenda remains one of the most coherent policy blueprints Nigeria has had in recent decades,” he noted.
Taking a final jab at Oshiomhole, Shaibu said the APC’s prolonged failure in governance leaves its leaders with no authority to criticise others.
“If the APC failed to fix Nigeria after eight disastrous years and almost three more under President Tinubu, what moral right does Oshiomhole have to lecture anyone on leadership?” he asked.
He concluded that the APC’s legacy is defined by “propaganda, chaos, and broken promises,” adding that Oshiomhole “remains a symbol of the party’s collapse and should stay away from leadership conversations.”
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