I laid foundation of ABTI in 1993 while you forfeited $460,000 in US – Atiku replies Tinubu

The African Democratic Congress, ADC, presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has condemned President Bola Tinubu’s latest attack on his investment in education, noting that while Tinubu forfeited money in the United States in 1993, he was laying the foundation of American University of Nigeria, formerly known as ABTI.

Atiku said he laid the foundation of the American University of Nigeria in 1993, stressing that Tinubu’s claim of using Nigeria’s money to build a school was an attempt to distract the citizens from the failures of his administration.

In a statement issued by the Director of Strategic Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku said: “Again, Bola Tinubu has told Nigerians why they should not allow him to continue as president after his first tenure. He also chose to question my investment in education and ask how I built an educational institution while serving as Vice President.

“The answer is simple: my investment in education predates my time in public service. In 1993, while a U.S. court ordered the forfeiture of funds in an account in your name, describing them as proceeds of narcotics trafficking or funds involved in unlawful financial transactions, I was laying the foundation for ABTI Academy. That Academy has since grown into the American University of Nigeria.

“That moment captures the difference between us. My history is traceable. I can show Nigerians how I built my name, achieved success in business and entered public leadership. Your own history remains clumsy and foggy. You cannot erase it by attacking my record in education.

“A president who has plunged the country into a crushing cost-of-living crisis has no business asking Nigerians for another mandate. The real conversation about the 2027 election is how to repair the damage your government has done.

“You say Nigeria cannot return to subsidy and must move forward. But you cannot even tell Nigerians where you are taking them. Forward into deeper poverty, mounting debt, insecurity and mass unemployment?

“Since your inauguration in 2023, your leadership has become synonymous with hardship, pain and despair. Your record is a working example of how a country should not be led. You have created poverty on an industrial scale, pushing more than 79 million Nigerians into extreme poverty.”