Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has strongly criticized the weaponization of hunger and poverty through food distribution and palliatives as political tools in Northern Nigeria. In a statement issued Friday in Abuja by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku described the recent event where First Lady Oluremi Tinubu flagged off 100 trucks of rice and ₦1.2 billion in palliatives to northern states and the FCT as a calculated political performance, not an act of compassion.
Normalization of Poverty
Atiku stated that Nigerians are witnessing the tragic normalization of poverty under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu's administration. Families can no longer afford basic meals, inflation has ravaged household incomes, and millions are pushed into extreme deprivation daily. Instead of addressing structural causes, the government chooses optics—distributing food in choreographed ceremonies while suffering deepens.
Impact on Northern Farmers
Since 2023, Northern farmers have faced declining productivity due to policy failures and inability to secure farmlands. Vast agricultural belts have been abandoned to insecurity, displacing farmers and weakening food supply chains. Atiku noted that the same government now exploits this hardship by turning food into a campaign tool. What the North needs is genuine, sustainable food security policies, not campaign lunch packs wrapped in party insignia.
Pattern of Politicizing Hunger
Atiku highlighted that this pattern began earlier, citing last Ramadan when President Tinubu's son, Seyi Tinubu, distributed food items across parts of the North—presented as charity but clearly designed to test the strategy of politicizing hunger. What was an experiment has now evolved into a full-blown policy of optics over substance.
Call for Sustainable Solutions
Atiku emphasized that Nigerians are not beggars to be pacified with handouts while their livelihoods collapse. The North has been battered by rising food prices, unemployment, and insecurity crippling agricultural productivity. These problems require bold, coherent, people-centered economic policies, not trucks of rice. A responsible government builds systems guaranteeing food security, stabilizes the economy, empowers farmers, and restores purchasing power.
Warning Against Stomach Infrastructure Politics
Atiku warned that the descent into stomach infrastructure politics is dangerous and corrosive to democracy. When hunger is weaponized, citizens' freedom to make independent political choices is undermined. When poverty becomes a control tool, governance loses its moral foundation. He called on Nigerians to reject the politics of survival and insist on leadership that respects dignity, protects welfare, and secures the future. The time has come to demand governance, not gestures.
