Former Vice President and African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has challenged the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Nentawe Yilwatda, to explain how the Federal Government identified and paid more than 10 million beneficiaries of its N75,000 conditional cash transfer programme, particularly those without mobile phones.

Yilwatda had last week, while speaking with journalists after a three-day retreat of the APC National Executive Council in Maiduguri, Borno State, described the beneficiaries as largely poor and vulnerable Nigerians who did not have phones, television sets or access to social media.

Reacting in his Independence Day address on Thursday, Atiku questioned how such beneficiaries were identified, contacted and paid, particularly in parts of Borno and Yobe affected by insecurity.

“Professor Yilwatda says many beneficiaries have no phones. So how did your government identify, contact and pay them, particularly in parts of Yobe and Borno where insecurity makes access difficult?” Atiku asked.

He also questioned whether the money was delivered physically or transferred into bank accounts, calling for records of the transactions.

“If it went into bank accounts, show the transaction records. If you could find ten million people to pay, you can account for the payments,” he said.

Atiku also criticised the economic policies of the Tinubu administration, accusing the government of worsening the cost-of-living crisis.

“The past three years under Bola Tinubu have plunged Nigeria into the most severe cost of living crisis in our history. Families are not merely tightening their belts. They are skipping meals, delaying treatment and borrowing to survive until payday,” he said.

He further questioned President Bola Tinubu’s declaration in his Independence Day address that the period of “emergency treatment” was over and that Nigeria had entered an “age of prosperity.”

“A president may announce a new chapter in a speech. He cannot put food onto a family’s table or money into a worker’s pocket,” Atiku said.