The All Progressives Congress (APC) has described former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, ex-Transport Minister Rotimi Amaechi, and former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai as "desperate rent-seekers clinging to a fading political relevance" following their criticism of President Bola Tinubu's economic policies.

In a statement released Monday in Abuja, APC National Publicity Secretary Felix Morka responded to comments made by the three politicians during Amaechi's 60th birthday lecture on May 31, where they criticized the current administration's economic direction.

Amaechi had notably declared during the event, "We're all hungry; all of us are. If you're not hungry, I am. For us, the opposition, if you want us to remove the man in power, we can remove him from this power."

Morka dismissed these criticisms, highlighting what he described as hypocrisy from politicians who collectively held power for nearly 25 years without solving the same economic challenges they now criticize.

"The APC strongly rejects the baseless allegation that the APC government of President Bola Tinubu was 'weaponising' poverty by not eradicating the scourge in two years – a feat they themselves failed to achieve during a quarter of a century in power," the statement read.

The ruling party accused the trio of turning the birthday lecture into a "frenzied" gathering of "displaced rent-seekers who misused their time in office and are now disoriented by Tinubu's reforms."

Specifically addressing Amaechi's complaint about hunger, Morka stated: "That's about a quarter of a century of freeloading by Amaechi on state resources, with absolutely no record of attempting to combat poverty in his Rivers state or the country."

"When Amaechi declared, 'I am hungry,' he must mean, and must be understood to mean, that he is hungry and desperate to return to his felt entitled dependency on state resources and patronage," he added.

The APC spokesman further defended President Tinubu's economic reforms, claiming they represent a departure from the rent-seeking model that previously dominated Nigeria's economy, replacing it with one that rewards productivity and innovation.

Morka also criticized the 16 years of PDP administration, accusing them of maintaining an artificially overvalued naira that "stifled local production, encouraged import dependency, and exacerbated poverty."

In a pointed attack on opposition figures, he claimed that "Atiku and Peter Obi, who are now vociferously criticising President Tinubu's policies, amassed their wealth from the very import-dependent system they are desperately trying to preserve."