Former Vice President and 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has criticized President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for visiting Plateau State to attend a funeral rather than to commiserate with victims of ongoing insecurity in the region.

In a statement shared on his official X (formerly Twitter) account on Saturday, Atiku described Tinubu’s visit as “a sad reflection of priorities and a mockery of leadership.”

The President attended the funeral of Mama Lydia Yilwatda, the mother of Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC). Atiku, however, argued that the President has failed to visit the state during repeated waves of attacks that have left many residents dead and displaced.

“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 grieving citizens,” Atiku wrote.

He added that it was “heartless” for the President to visit Plateau “not to share in the people’s pain, but to attend a social event under the auspices of his party’s national chairman.”

Atiku further accused the administration of showing “disregard for empathy, compassion, and the dignity of human life,” citing continued violence across Benue, Niger, Kwara, and Plateau states without a single presidential condolence visit to the most affected communities.

He concluded that Nigerians would remember “a President who would rather feast than feel—a leader who finds pleasure where the people find pain.”