A former Minister for Education, Oby Ezekwesili, has dismissed as untrue, the claim by Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), that he headed the economic management team as Vice President between 1999 and 2007.
Atiku had claimed during his presentation at an event organised by the Nigerian Economic Summit Group in Lagos on Monday, that he was instrumental in designing a private sector revival strategy; and advocated for the opening of the economy for private sector investments in several sectors.
The claim was tweeted via his Twitter account, apparently by his social media account handler.
Responding to the tweet, Ezekwesili said, “Dear former Vice President Atiku, please ask the handlers of your @Twitter account to stop misleading the public. 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.✍🏾”
Ezekwesili had also tweeted further:
“Incredulous how desperately they seek a conversion of that Lie into Truth. Even in 2014 I cautioned someone on Twitter that “stating a fallacy with great confidence does not turn it to the Truth” And yet they persist in 2023 to do the same. I will counter it every time.
“Former Vice President @atiku can delete the tweet I reacted to and duly lay claim to having chaired the National Economic Council at which he and State Governors met monthly. Do not confuse this anymore with the Economic Management Team. I hope others also learned something.”