By Abdullahi Mukhtar Algasgaini
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has urged the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation to release any disclosable records concerning President Bola Tinubu, arguing that the agency’s invocation of “danger to lives” as justification for withholding information rings hollow amid widespread suffering in Nigeria.
Atiku, who ran for president under the African Democratic Congress (ADC), said in a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, that millions of Nigerians are already facing severe economic hardship and insecurity.
“The FBI says disclosure could endanger lives. Which lives? Nigerians are already dying,” Atiku stated.
The former vice president pointed to the three and a half years since Tinubu assumed office, citing economic policies that have intensified hardship across the country.
“In the past three and a half years since Tinubu became Nigeria’s President, he has pursued economic policies that have made his government a threat to the daily survival of ordinary Nigerians,” he said.
Atiku highlighted the impact of the fuel subsidy removal, describing it as “senseless” and carried out without a credible plan to protect ordinary citizens.
“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. This is the human cost of Tinubu’s senseless removal of fuel subsidy,” he added.
The former vice president questioned the administration’s celebration of the policy, asking: “When Tinubu boasts that subsidy is gone, Nigerians should ask him what exactly he is celebrating: the empty cooking pots, abandoned medical prescriptions, unaffordable transport fares or businesses struggling to survive?”
While clarifying that he did not seek disclosure of sensitive information that could compromise legitimate American law-enforcement operations, Atiku maintained that the FBI should not use safety concerns as a “bulletproof vest for Tinubu.”
“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 framed his demand as a humanitarian and democratic appeal rather than an attempt to interfere in Nigeria’s political affairs.
“Nigerians have a democratic right to know the history and character of the man who occupies their country’s highest office. Where information relevant to that legitimate public interest rests with American law enforcement and can lawfully be disclosed, the principles of openness and democratic accountability demand that it should not be unnecessarily hidden,” he stated.
The former vice president concluded: “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.”
Atiku reiterated his commitment to transparency, insisting that “if information can lawfully be released without endangering investigators, confidential sources or legitimate law-enforcement operations, release it.”
The FBI has not yet responded to Atiku’s latest comments.
