Kwara Mass Killings Evidence Of Security Collapse — ADC

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has said the recent killing of about 170 people in Kwara State is evidence of a total security collapse under President Bola Tinubu’s watch.

The opposition party said the continued mass killings showed that the president’s declaration of a state of emergency on security and the promised recruitment of police officers were either ineffective or mere declarations.

The ADC’s national publicity secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, in a statement yesterday, said heightened security activities seen last year after comments by the U.S. president was merely posturing to earn  international approval rather than genuine efforts to end insecurity in the country.

The party spokesman added that the scale and frequency of killings across the country since then had  shown  that whatever measures the government had taken since then was not working.

He said the  government’s approach was redistributing terror rather than eliminating it.

Condemning the recent killing of about 170 people in Kaiama local government area of  Kwara State,  the party said the horrific massacre was one of the worst atrocities recorded in recent times and stands as a painful reminder of the complete collapse of security across the country.

“We extend our deepest condolences to the families of the victims and to the people of Kwara State, who have once again been abandoned to mourn their dead in a nation that appears incapable of protecting its citizens.

“As many analysts have noted, what makes this tragedy even more troubling are growing concerns that the perpetrators may be part of terrorist elements recently dispersed by the United States Christmas-Day military action in Sokoto State, who are now relocating to other states due to weak internal security coordination.

“The net summary of this, which has now become self-evident from this industrial scale killings in areas hitherto considered safe, is that the Tinubu administration, whatever it is doing, is not winning the war against terror, it is merely redistributing it.

“Whether it is the mass abductions in Kaduna or the mass killings in Kwara, both highlight the deep structural failures of Nigeria’s internal security system in terms of intelligence gathering, border control, inter-agency collaboration, and emergency response capability.”

Abdullahi said Nigerians were compelled to ask serious questions about  the President’s much-publicised declaration of a state of emergency on security announced in November 2025.

“Was it a sincere commitment to restoring safety, or was it merely a rhetorical response to rising international and home-grown public anger?”

The ADC spokesman  recalled that the Presidency announced a major recruitment drive into the Nigeria Police Force as part of this emergency response.

“Tens of thousands of new personnel were reportedly approved for recruitment to strengthen internal security nationwide. Nigerians are entitled to know what has become of that promise.

“Have these recruits been employed, trained, and deployed, or has the exercise quietly stalled? If such measures were genuinely implemented, vulnerable rural communities like those in Kwara State should not be left completely exposed to mass slaughter.

“We are equally disturbed by the pattern of performative security responses witnessed last year, when Nigeria suddenly projected an image of firmness following public comments and tweets by the president of the United States drawing attention to insecurity in the country.

“That brief display of urgency has since faded, raising legitimate concerns that the initial response was more about impressing foreign observers than about securing the lives of Nigerians,”

The party spokesman said the painful truth is that Nigeria’s security crisis has  moved beyond the competence and capacity of the Tinubu-led Federal government.

“Across the country, killings have become routine, accountability has disappeared, and government response has been reduced to condolences and condemnations in the aftermath of each tragedy, conveniently forgetting that a government that  cannot safeguard the lives of its people has failed in its most fundamental duty.

“The African Democratic Congress therefore calls on the Federal Government to immediately come clean with Nigerians on the true state of  Nigeria’s national security, to account for the security recruitment it announced, and to explain how it intends to stop the spread and relocation of terrorist groups across states.

“Nigeria cannot continue on this path of denial and inaction. Lives are not statistics, and governance is not public relations.

“The ADC stands firmly with Nigerians in demanding competent leadership, honest governance, and a security strategy that protects lives rather than reacts after mass graves have been dug,” he said.