Former Vice President and 2023 presidential candidate of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has tackled President Bola Tinubu over his administration’s handling of security matters, saying the president lacked the ideas to tackle insecurity.
Atiku, in a statement posted on his verified social media handles on Saturday night, said the current administration has proven to be utterly incapable, wholly incompetent, and completely devoid of any coherent ideas for tackling Nigeria’s deepening security crisis.
Atiku said, “This is not just my position — it is a growing consensus among political opposition leaders, respected security experts, and even members within the ruling party who, though too timid to speak publicly, confess this uncomfortable truth behind closed doors.”
He added that the blood of innocent Nigerians continued to be spilled with appalling regularity, citing most recent killings in the Logo and Gbagir communities of Ukum LGA in Benue State.
“Yet, the Tinubu presidency remains disturbingly indifferent, displaying neither urgency nor the basic decency of public empathy.
“Leadership demands presence. In 2016, President Barack Obama cut short an important diplomatic visit to return home after five police officers were killed in a lone gunman attack.
“In 2019, President Cyril Ramaphosa abandoned a state visit to Egypt to return to South Africa amid an electricity crisis. Even U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, heavily criticised for fleeing to Mexico during a deadly winter storm in Texas, eventually returned and acknowledged his mistake,” he recalled.
The ex-VP recalled that former President Goodluck Jonathan returned from Equatorial Guinea in 2014 following a deadly bomb blast in Abuja.
“That is the expected minimum in moments of national trauma.
“Yet President Bola Tinubu, incapable of solving Nigeria’s worsening insecurity, chooses instead to gallivant across Europe — governing Nigeria in absentia as if from a holiday perch.
“If he cannot act, the least he can do is show up. If he cannot lead with empathy, he should at least attempt the performance of it. Nigeria is bleeding. Nigerians are dying. The president is nowhere to be found,” Atiku said.
He extended his heartfelt condolences to the people and Government of Benue State, saying “We stand with you in grief and in solidarity.”
“An inept administration may not suddenly discover competence. But we will not stop calling it out. If Tinubu cannot deliver safety and dignity to Nigerians, the very least he can do is pretend to care —regardless of ethnicity, religion, or political affiliation,” Atiku added.
