5,091 Killed In 3 Months: Atiku Says Tinubu’s Scorecard Is ‘Soaked In Blood’

Former vice president and presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has described the reported killing of 5,091 Nigerians in violent incidents across the country within three months as a damning indictment of President Bola Tinubu’s administration.

Atiku, in a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, on Sunday, said the figures represented a grim assessment of the government’s performance in its fundamental responsibility to protect lives and property.

He described the reported deaths as more than statistics, stressing that each figure represented a Nigerian whose life had been cut short and a family thrown into mourning.

“Behind every number is a Nigerian whose life was cut short, a family thrown into mourning, children deprived of parents and communities condemned to fear. Five thousand and ninety-one reported killings in just three months should trouble the conscience of any government,” Atiku said.

The former vice president linked the worsening insecurity in the country to what he described as fiscal indiscipline, wasteful expenditure and poor implementation of budgetary appropriations by the Tinubu administration.

According to him, inadequate funding and misplaced government priorities were undermining the ability of the Armed Forces and other security agencies to effectively confront terrorism, banditry, kidnapping and other violent crimes.

“These figures are the human cost of every padded budget, every frivolous expenditure and every failure to fully implement funds appropriated for critical national priorities.

“You cannot run the public treasury as though it were a private purse, squander scarce resources on questionable priorities and then expect soldiers and other security personnel on the frontlines to perform miracles,” he said.

Atiku further criticised what he described as the government’s continued treatment of budgetary allocations as an inconvenience, arguing that the diversion of public resources to what he called wasteful and politically expedient projects was weakening national security.

“The continued pattern of treating fiscal appropriation as an inconvenience while public resources are diverted to wasteful and politically expedient projects undermines national security and impedes the capacity of our Armed Forces and other security agencies to respond decisively to threats,” he added.

Atiku also welcomed the recently announced increase in the salaries of military personnel, but maintained that improved remuneration alone would not be sufficient to address the challenges confronting troops on the frontline.

He said military personnel also require adequate equipment, operational funding, timely allowances and improved welfare for themselves and their families.

“Our soldiers deserve better pay, but morale is about much more than salaries. They require adequate equipment, operational funding, timely allowances, proper welfare for their families and the assurance that the government they defend is as committed to their mission as they are,” he said.

The ADC presidential candidate urged the federal government to reduce wasteful spending, eliminate questionable expenditure and improve the implementation of appropriated funds, particularly in the defence and security sectors.

He argued that the protection of lives and property remained the most fundamental responsibility of any government.

“A government that cannot protect its citizens has failed the first test of governance. Nigerians cannot continue to pay with their lives for the failures, waste and misplaced priorities of an administration that has failed in its most basic constitutional duty,” Atiku said.

He further described every death resulting from terrorism, banditry, kidnapping and other violent crimes as a failure of the Nigerian state.

“Every Nigerian needlessly lost to terrorism, banditry, kidnapping and other violent crimes represents a failure of the state. These are not mere statistics. They were fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, breadwinners and citizens who had every right to expect protection from their government,” he said.

Atiku concluded by reiterating his criticism of the Tinubu administration’s handling of insecurity, saying the reported death toll should serve as a measure of the government’s failure to protect Nigerians.

“Today, we have 5,091 reported killings in just three months, 5,091 shattered families, 5,091 indictments of this administration’s security failures, and ultimately, 5,091 reasons this government must go,” he said.