Abuja, Nigeria – October 5, 2025 – Former Vice President and 2023 Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar has unleashed a scathing critique of President Bola Tinubu’s Saturday trip to Plateau State, accusing him of prioritizing a “political funeral” over consoling communities ravaged by relentless insecurity. In a fiery statement posted on his X handle, Atiku lambasted the visit as a “sad reflection of priorities” and a “glaring mockery of leadership,” highlighting Tinubu’s attendance at the burial of Mama Lydia Yilwatda Goshwe – mother of APC National Chairman Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda – in Jos, rather than addressing the state’s ongoing humanitarian crisis. [0] [1]
Atiku, 78 and a perennial contender in Nigeria’s political arena, didn’t mince words in his October 4 post, shared via media adviser Paul Ibe. “With large swathes of the country still under siege from unrelenting insecurity and thousands of innocent lives lost, it is deeply unfortunate that President Bola Tinubu has not, for once, found it worthy to visit any of the affected states to commiserate with the grieving citizens,” he wrote, pointing to Plateau as “one of the most terrorized parts of the North Central.” [2] [3] He slammed the event as a “social gathering under the auspices of his party’s national chairman,” where Tinubu “chose to grace a political funeral rather than stand with the people in their darkest hour.” [4] The Waziri Adamawa went further, branding the duo’s display a “heartless exhibition of disregard for empathy, compassion, and the dignity of human life,” urging Nigerians to remember such “selective symbolism” come election time. [5] [7]
The barb struck amid escalating violence in Nigeria’s Middle Belt, where Plateau has been a hotspot for farmer-herder clashes, banditry, and kidnappings. Recent attacks in Bokkos and Barkin Ladi local government areas claimed over 50 lives in September alone, displacing thousands and drawing global condemnation from Amnesty International. [8] Atiku referenced Tinubu’s June “symbolic” stop in Benue State – another insecurity flashpoint – where the president skipped the massacre epicenter of Yelewata for political meets in Makurdi, underscoring a pattern of “feasting while the people find pain.” [5] “The message could not be clearer: this is a President who would rather merry with elites while ordinary Nigerians mourn,” Atiku fumed, echoing PDP calls for a state of emergency on security.
Tinubu’s camp has yet to respond directly, but the presidency’s X handle shared photos of the funeral, praising Mama Yilwatda as a “pillar of faith and community” and Tinubu’s presence as a “gesture of solidarity.” Plateau Governor Caleb Mutfwang, a PDP ally, attended alongside, but Atiku’s salvo has reignited partisan flames, with #TinubuHeartless and #AtikuSpeaks trending on X. APC defenders countered, calling it “PDP sour grapes” post-2023 loss, while civil society groups like the Centre for Democracy and Development urged genuine action over optics.
This isn’t Atiku’s first swipe at Tinubu’s security record; since losing the February 2023 polls by a slim margin, he’s filed multiple lawsuits challenging the results and consistently hammered the APC on economic woes and violence spikes. As North Central bleeds – with over 2,000 deaths reported in 2025 per the International Crisis Group – Atiku’s words amplify a national cry: leadership must console the crushed, not just the connected.
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