Adams Oshiomhole, a former Edo State governor and Senator representing the Edo North Senatorial District, has condemned former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s criticism of President Bola Tinubu’s visit to Plateau State, calling the statements a reflection of political obsession.
Oshiomhole, who spoke on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, expressed “sympathy” for Atiku, the Peoples Democratic Party’s 2023 presidential candidate, claiming that the former vice president had been “consumed by politics.”
“I have sympathy for Atiku,” Oshiomhole said during the program. “He has allowed himself to be consumed by politics. Everything he sees, he interprets through the eyes of partisanship.”
Atiku had previously chastised Tinubu for visiting the funeral of Mama Lydia Yilwatda Goshwe, mother of the All Progressives Congress National Chairman, Prof. Abdullahi Yilwatda, in Plateau State on Saturday.
Tinubu attended the funeral service for Mama Lydia at the Church of Christ in Nations Headquarters in Jos, where he urged Nigerians to embrace peace and tolerance, calling on residents to “shun religious and ethnic differences” and live in harmony.
In a message tweeted on his official X, Atiku called the president’s presence “a sad reflection of priorities and a mockery of leadership.”
According to the former PDP head, the president should have visited and commiserated with victims of persistent attacks and insecurity in the North Central area rather than attending “a social event associated with his party chairman.”
“With large swathes of the country still under siege from unrelenting insecurity and thousands of innocent lives lost, it is deeply unfortunate that President Bola Tinubu has not, for once, found it worthy to visit any of the affected states to commiserate with the grieving citizens,” Atiku said.
“Between the APC National Chairman and his President, what we witnessed today is a heartless exhibition of disregard for empathy, compassion, and the dignity of human life,” he added.
In response to those statements, Oshiomhole stated that the president’s decision to attend the funeral was consistent with tradition and should not be politicized.
“It is customary to go to any state and commiserate with the governor representing the collective spirit of the people of that state.”
He also stated that the President had previously visited Benue State, where he celebrated Christmas, stressing that such visits do not have to take place in every local government affected by violence.
“He went to Benue to celebrate Christmas. He went to Benue to celebrate a birthday. So he has to go to the particular location, or in the case of the mother of APC, did he go to the village where the woman was born or where the woman is going to be buried?” the senator said.
