Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has criticised the presidency over the controversy surrounding a purportedly AI-generated image depicting a meeting between President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Rwanda’s President, Paul Kagame.
Naijaonpoint reports that Atiku, in a statement through his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, has said it is shameful that the presidency is giving a clarification on the lunch image when Nigerians are being crushed by hunger, insecurity, collapsing businesses, and a brutal cost-of-living crisis.
Atiku lamented that the Presidency is repeatedly entangled in controversies over forgery or questionable documents, and cannot suddenly pretend to be shocked by public skepticism.
The statement reads, “The Presidency’s latest “Stop Press” is a textbook case of misplaced priorities and official shamelessness. At a moment when Nigerians are crushed by hunger, insecurity, collapsing businesses, and a brutal cost-of-living crisis, the Presidency chose to brief the nation on who the President had lunch with and who he dined with in Paris.
“That is not leadership. It is tone-deafness in power. While communities in Niger State and other parts of the country are under attack and families can no longer afford basic food, the Presidency is busy explaining camera phones, image quality, and photo editing. By the way, why is Tinubu’s plate empty? Nigerians did not ask for a Paris menu. They asked for leadership.
“On the claim of AI or forgery, the outrage is unconvincing. A Presidency repeatedly entangled in controversies over forged or questionable documents cannot suddenly pretend to be shocked by public skepticism.
“When credibility is eroded, doubt follows naturally. Instead of asking why trust has collapsed, the Presidency is lecturing Nigerians and attacking the media.
“The real falsehood is not a photograph. It is the daily distortion of leadership priorities. Nigeria is burning. The Presidency is editing pictures.
“It is time for the Presidency to abandon public relations theatrics, return home, and confront the emergencies facing Nigerians, hunger, insecurity, and economic collapse, with urgency, humility, and action. That is the minimum Nigerians expect.”