ABUJA — A storm of “selective amnesia” and “political gymnastics” is swirling around former Vice President Atiku Abubakar today. What was pitched as a statesmanlike tribute to the late Brigadier-General O. Braimah has instead ripped open the deep, unhealed scars of the Deborah Samuel tragedy.
While the “Waziri Adamawa” took to social media to mourn the General and his men killed in the Benisheikh massacre, the Nigerian public—led by a furious Christian community in the Middle Belt—wasn’t buying the empathy. To them, the condolences weren’t an act of grace, but a “shamefully political” calculation from a man they say chooses his martyrs based on the ballot box.
The Ghost of Sokoto Refuses to Sleep
The source of the vitriol remains the infamous May 2022 incident in Sokoto. When Deborah Samuel, a Christian student, was stoned and set ablaze by a mob for alleged blasphemy, Atiku’s initial condemnation lasted only as long as it took for his Northern base to threaten his 2023 presidential ticket.
The speed with which he deleted that post and his subsequent claim that it was posted “without his approval” have become the ultimate symbol of what critics call his “moral bankruptcy.”
“Go Home and Lick Your Wounds”
“He found his voice for a General, but lost it for a student,” one Middle Belt leader remarked, echoing a sentiment that has gone viral. “It’s deceitful. It’s plastic. It’s Atiku being Atiku.”
The backlash has since morphed into a blunt demand for his exit from the Nigerian political stage. Social media is currently awash with calls for the perennial presidential candidate to finally throw in the towel, with many telling him to “go and lick his wounds” and enjoy what they describe as his “looted funds” in retirement.
As the nation reels from the loss of 18 personnel in the Benisheikh bloodbath, the conversation has shifted from a military tragedy to a referendum on the sincerity of a man who many feel has traded his soul for a shot at the Villa.
