President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has blamed the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, and other opposition leaders for the hunger currently facing Nigerians.

Tinubu spoke on Saturday during the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential campaign rally in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, insisting that the hardship did not begin under his administration but resulted from years of poor leadership by previous governments.

“These people who are shouting hunger today are the ones who caused the hunger. Atiku and his friends were in government for years. They had the chance to build Nigeria. They did not build it. They ate the money,” he said.

The President noted that Atiku served as Vice President for eight years, arguing that he had the opportunity to address the country’s challenges but failed to do so.

Tinubu accused opposition leaders of using the current economic hardship to criticise his administration while pretending to be concerned about the welfare of Nigerians when their actual interest was political power.

He, however, maintained that his administration was working to address hunger through investments in agriculture, food production and job creation.