Atiku aide faults Onanuga over subsidy response

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A media aide to former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, Eta Uso, has faulted the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, over his response to Atiku’s recent proposal on production subsidy.

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Uso, in a statement on Saturday, said the Presidency’s response focused more on references to Atiku than on the substance of the policy proposal.

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“We gave you a policy argument. Instead of engaging it intelligently, you reached for ‘veteran presidential candidate’ and recycled a claim your colleague had already pushed,” Uso said.

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The controversy followed Onanuga’s reference to an earlier production subsidy policy during the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, when Atiku was Vice-President, in his response to the former Vice-President’s current proposal.

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Uso argued that the responsibility of a presidential spokesman was to explain and defend government policies rather than focus on an opposition politician.

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“Your job should be to explain and defend your government’s policies,” he said.

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He added that repeated responses from the Presidency to Atiku’s interventions could further draw public attention to the former Vice-President’s policy positions.

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According to Uso, each response to Atiku’s proposals creates an opportunity for wider public discussion of the differences between the positions of the former Vice-President and the Federal Government.

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“If HE Atiku can announce one policy idea and send the Presidency into a full day of rebuttals… then neither you nor I should pretend there is any confusion about who is driving the national conversation,” he said.

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Uso said he remained open to further exchanges with Onanuga, arguing that continued official responses would keep Atiku’s proposals in the public domain.

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