‘Stop lying’ — Oby Ezekwesili knocks Atiku over claim of leading economic team under Obasanjo

Obi Ezekwesili, a former minister of education, has tackled Atiku Abubakar, the presidential standard bearer of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), over claim of being the head of the economic management team under the Olusegun Obasanjo-led administration.

Via a tweet on her handle @obyezeks, Ezekwesili, who served in the Obasanjo administration, asked Atiku and his media team “to stop misleading the public”.

Tweeting, the former vice-president of World Bank Africa, said, “Dear former Vice President Atiku, please ask the handlers of your @Twitter account to stop misleading the public.

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“You were never the head of the economic management team. This absurd lie does you no good at all. Please ask your team to stop it. Happy New Year. Wish you well.”

In a tweet via his verified Twitter handle, Atiku had claimed that he was strategic in the development of the private sector-driven economic policies of the Obasanjo administration in his capacity as the chairman of the economic management team.

Although the economic expert did not name the person who headed the team, checks by FIJ revealed that Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, ex-minister of finance and now Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), acted as the lead.

Atiku’s party had made the same claim in July 2022, when it tweeted that he “assembled and presided over the most competent economic team in Nigeria’s history”.

Following the social media backlash that followed, PDP bowed to pressure and deleted the tweet.