Tinubu’s Aide Criticises Atiku for Raising Lekki Shooting Six Years After, Cites Buhari Visits

Dada Olusegun, Special Assistant to President Bola Tinubu on Social Media, has accused former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar of using the occasion of the anniversary of the October 2020 Lekki Toll Gate shooting to advance his presidential bid for 2027.

Olusegun, who is also the National Convener of the PBAT Media Centre, challenged the relevance of the demand by former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, to investigate the killing of peaceful #EndSARS protesters.

Atiku calls for account

Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar had marked the sixth anniversary of the shooting by publishing a post titled, “Six Years After Lekki, The APC Still Owes Nigerians Answers And Young People A Future.”

In this post, he demanded to know who ordered the shooting of the peaceful protesters and accused the APC-led government of failure to give Nigerians answers as they languish in abject poverty.

The son of former President Shehu Shagari also criticised President Tinubu’s comments in October 2020 on the shooting in which he questioned the circumstances under which the bullets had flown.

Atiku said Tinubu’s comments were devoid of the sympathy the situation demanded.

Atiku said the burden of youths under economic pressure was so unbearable that a woman recently resigned from her job because her salary was no longer able to meet fuel needs.

Atiku said his Economic Recovery Plan would “Make Nigeria Affordable Again” by reducing waste and promoting local production and giving relief in respect to locally refined fuel.

Olusegun’s response

The Special Assistant to President Tinubu on Social Media posed a question on X why it had taken six years for Atiku to demand answers when he had met former President Muhammadu Buhari on two separate occasions.

“On June 22, 2024, you paid a courtesy visit to President Buhari in Daura, and later on April 11, 2025, you visited the former President again at his residence in Kaduna,” wrote Olusegun.

“We can only assume that the engagements provided a platform for you to press him on the Lekki massacre as he was in office when the #EndSARS protesters were shot and killed.

“That it took you six long years to ask these questions is a testimony to your insincerity and desperation to become President.

Defense of Tinubu

Olusegun defended President Tinubu by saying that he was a private citizen in 2020 and was also a victim of the Lekki shooting as his Bourdillon residence in Lagos was almost attacked, forcing him and his domestics to flee for their lives.

He said the characterization of the Lekki shooting as massacre was by Atiku, who had no evidence to support his position.

The PBAT Media Centre National Convener said forensic reports and multiple agencies’ investigation have shown that the initial casualty figures on social media were false.

According to him, it would be unfair to attribute the massacre to President Tinubu when he was a financial and political victim.

“Your public statements about the Lekki massacre are an attempt to revive your economic recovery plan and leverage the suffering of Nigerians for your political capital.

It is unfair to criticise President Tinubu for something that you yourself did not experience and do not understand.

Atiku has made no direct response to the criticisms by Olusegun at the time of the publication of this report.

Source: saharareporters