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Former Vice President and presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has urged the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to release any information concerning President Bola Ahmed Tinubu that can legally be disclosed, insisting that Nigerians have a right to know the history and character of their president.
Atiku, in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, on Saturday, rejected the FBI’s invocation of potential danger to lives as a blanket justification for withholding records relating to Tinubu.
He said the argument was difficult to reconcile with the hardship and insecurity already confronting millions of Nigerians.
“The FBI says disclosure could endanger lives. Which lives? Nigerians are already dying,” Atiku said.
He accused the Tinubu administration of worsening the economic difficulties facing ordinary Nigerians through policies he described as insensitive, particularly the removal of fuel subsidy without adequate measures to cushion its impact.
According to him, Nigerians are battling rising food and transport costs, unaffordable healthcare, unemployment and mounting household debts, while terrorism and banditry continue to claim lives across the country.
“Families that once managed three meals now struggle for one. Parents cannot afford medicines for sick children. Breadwinners are buckling under debt and unbearable economic pressure,” he said.
Atiku also reiterated his pledge to restore fuel subsidy if elected president, saying the policy would be targeted, transparently financed, capped and independently audited to prevent corruption and diversion.
He argued that the cost of fuel was directly linked to transportation, food prices, production, employment and the overall survival of Nigerian households.
“Atiku’s Nigeria will not measure economic success by how much suffering citizens can endure,” he said.
Turning to the FBI’s handling of records relating to Tinubu, the former vice president said he was not demanding the disclosure of information that could compromise legitimate law-enforcement operations.
He urged the agency to protect its investigators, confidential sources and sensitive investigative methods, while releasing information that could lawfully be made public.
“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.”
Atiku maintained that his appeal was not an attempt to invite the United States into Nigeria’s domestic politics, but a demand for transparency and democratic accountability.
He said Nigerians had a legitimate interest in information concerning individuals who exercise enormous power over their lives, particularly where such information was lawfully available for disclosure.
“Nigerians have a democratic right to know the history and character of the man who occupies their country’s highest office,” he said.
Atiku further argued that American secrecy laws should not inadvertently shield Nigerian public officials from legitimate scrutiny.
“If information can lawfully be released without endangering investigators, confidential sources or legitimate law-enforcement operations, release it,” he said.
“Nigerians are not asking America to conduct our democracy for us. We are saying that American secrecy laws must not inadvertently become a sanctuary from accountability in Nigeria.
“So, to the FBI, our message is simple: 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.”
