A senior aide to former Nigerian Vice President Atiku Abubakar has demanded the dismissal of President Bola Tinubu’s communications advisor, escalating tensions over remarks targeting the legacy of late ex-President Muhammadu Buhari. Phrank Shaibu, Abubakar’s Special Assistant on Public Communication, accused Tinubu’s administration of attacking the deceased leader to deflect scrutiny of its governance challenges.

The controversy began when Bayo Onanuga, Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, shared a video on X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday. The clip, captioned to counter claims that Buhari secured his 2015 and 2019 electoral victories with 12 million votes, showed a crowd gathered during preparatory events for Buhari’s burial in his hometown of Daura, Katsina State. Onanuga later deleted the post amid criticism, but not before Shaibu alleged the move was a deliberate attempt to undermine Buhari’s political influence.

Shaibu accused Tinubu’s administration of engaging in “a gutter-level assault” on Buhari’s reputation while struggling to address Nigeria’s economic turmoil. In a social media thread, he criticized the government’s focus on “fighting ghosts” rather than tackling inflation, currency instability, and power shortages. “If Buhari was irrelevant, why is this administration still trembling at his shadow?” Shaibu wrote, questioning the timing of Onanuga’s post during funeral preparations for the late leader.

The aide asserted that such a public attack on a former head of state would not occur without presidential approval. He challenged Tinubu to dismiss Onanuga if the adviser acted independently, warning that silence would imply endorsement. “This is not governance. It is a circus of insecurity, lashing out at the dead because they’ve lost control of the living,” Shaibu added, referencing viral hashtags like #TinubuFailedAlready and #SackOnanugaNow.

While Onanuga’s deleted post did not explicitly criticize Buhari, analysts note its implied challenge to narratives about the former president’s electoral influence. Buhari, who governed from 2015 to 2023, remains a polarizing figure due to Nigeria’s economic stagnation and security crises under his administration. Tinubu, his successor from the same All Progressives Congress party, has faced mounting criticism over soaring living costs and a weakening naira since taking office in May 2023.

The incident highlights deepening political fissures within Nigeria’s ruling party and growing public frustration with perceived governance failures. As Buhari’s burial plans proceed, the exchange underscores how his legacy continues to shape political discourse, even as living voters grapple with pressing socioeconomic challenges.