Stop Acting Like Father Christmas – Atiku Tells Buhari

Agency ReporterNovember 4, 2018

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Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to attend to the needs of Nigerians instead of donating money to other countries.

The former vice president said that Nigeria’s resources should be used for the country and its people and not as donations to others.

He said that the President and his team should be more prudent with national resources.

Atiku, in a statement by its media office in Abuja on Sunday wondered why a country whose leaders had vowed to sell its national assets would still be donating money without considering its implications.

He said that the President recently promised to donate $500,000 to Guinea Bissau, along with other material donations.

He said, “Recently, we had cause to counsel the Buhari administration to be more prudent with national resources after the government declared its intention to sell national assets built by previous administrations to fund their business as usual 2019 budget.

“Apparently, rather than give heed to our pro bono patriotic advise, the Buhari administration is persisting in the financial profligacy that has seen them destroy a once thriving economy.
“In the latest instance, the Buhari government has announced that it is making a $500,000 donation to Guinea Bissau, along with other material donations.

“Our response is to ask why a nation that has been officially named as the world headquarters for extreme poverty, will donate her resources to others instead of using them to solve pressing domestic problems?

“This is the same government that is so cash strapped that it has so far borrowed ₦13 trillion in three years putting our economy in even greater peril.

“How prudent is it to go about taking loans from whomsoever cares to lend you money and then turn around to give out those same monies even when your own people are suffering the worst forms of poverty they have ever endured?

“We call on the Buhari administration to cut their coat according to their cloth. He should stop donating like Father Christmas. He should attend to then need of Nigerians.