The Presidency has faulted former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s criticism of President Bola Tinubu’s handling of the economy, describing his comments on hunger and poverty as misleading and out of touch with reality.

Atiku, in a statement issued on Monday through his Media Adviser, Paul Ibe, had warned that worsening poverty and hunger in the country could spark social unrest similar to the French, Russian, and Arab Spring revolutions.

He argued that after more than two years in office, there were “no manifest signs that this government is capable of addressing the grim issue of severe hunger staring the poor in the face.”

But in a swift rebuttal via a statement on Monday, the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, said Atiku’s remarks were disconnected from the “authentic Nigerian reality.”

“Talk is cheap. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and his handlers are clearly out of touch with the positive developments currently unfolding in our country,” Onanuga said.

He dismissed Atiku’s comparison of Nigeria’s current challenges to historical revolutions as “grossly misleading,” insisting that recent data paints a more optimistic picture of the economy.

“Just today, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) released its figures for August, showing that headline inflation has declined for the fifth consecutive month. Over the weekend, the NBS also reported a record trade surplus, with the contribution of non-oil exports to our trade balance now nearly matching that of crude oil at a ratio of 48:52 per cent,” Onanuga noted.