Former Vice President and African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has criticised the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for withholding potentially disclosable records concerning President Bola Tinubu.
Atiku rejected the FBI’s invocation of “danger to lives” as justification for keeping the records from public scrutiny.
In a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku said Nigerians could not be expected to accept a blanket use of “danger to lives” when millions were already facing severe economic hardship and insecurity.
“The FBI says disclosure could endanger lives. Which lives? Nigerians are already dying,” Atiku said.
He accused the Tinubu administration of pursuing economic policies that had made life harder for ordinary Nigerians.
“Many have been killed by terrorists and bandits. Many more have died amid hunger, inability to pay medical bills and the crushing emotional and economic pressure of being unable to provide food, shelter and basic necessities for their families,” he said.
Atiku said families that once managed three meals were now struggling to afford food, healthcare and shelter.
“Parents cannot afford medicines for sick children. Breadwinners are buckling under debt and unbearable economic pressure. This is the human cost of Tinubu’s senseless removal of fuel subsidy without a credible plan to protect ordinary Nigerians,” he said.
He added that “danger to life” was not merely a legal argument for Nigerians but a daily reality.
“Danger to life is therefore not a legal abstraction to Nigerians. It is a daily reality in our homes, hospitals, farms, highways and communities,” Atiku said.
Questioning the Tinubu administration’s celebration of fuel subsidy removal, he asked: “What exactly is he celebrating: the empty cooking pots, abandoned medical prescriptions, unaffordable transport fares or businesses struggling to survive?”
Atiku also clarified that his demand for the release of the FBI records did not include sensitive information that could compromise legitimate US law-enforcement operations.
“Protect your agents. Protect your sources. Protect legitimate investigative methods. Redact whatever American law genuinely requires you to redact,” he said.
“But do not stretch those protections until they become a bulletproof vest for Tinubu.”
He said the demand for disclosure was not an attempt to interfere in Nigeria’s political affairs but a call for transparency and democratic accountability.
“Our demand of American law enforcement is not a call to interfere in Nigeria’s politics. It is a humanitarian and democratic appeal rooted in the principle that people have a right to information legitimately available about those who exercise enormous power over their lives,” he said.
Atiku maintained that Nigerians had a right to know the history and character of the person occupying the country’s highest political office.
“If information can lawfully be released without endangering investigators, confidential sources or legitimate law-enforcement operations, release it,” he said.
He concluded: “Protect your investigators. Protect your sources. Protect your methods. But do not protect the truth from Nigerians. Our people are already paying for bad governance with their lives.”
