Former vice president Atiku Abubakar has condemned the spate of insecurity in Nigeria, adding that it has assumed worrying dimensions under President Bola Tinubu’s government.
Atiku said this in a tweet on his X handle on Tuesday where he recalled the various kidnapping episodes in several parts of Nigeria.
“Tinubu is playing fiddle while Nigeria is drowning in the ocean of insecurity,” Atiku wrote. “To imagine that the Commander-in-Chief is on a so-called private visit while kidnappers kill a nursing mother and grandmother in Abuja for failing to pay N90m ransom and two monarchs in Ekiti, among other regular tragedies besetting Nigerians.”
Atiku, who lost to Tinubu in the 2023 presidential election, is, however calling on the president to quit if he cannot tackle Nigeria’s security issues.
“If the shoes are too big for Emilokan, he should step aside. Nigeria does not need another Tourist-in-Chief,” the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain added. “The country needs 24/7 leadership to confront the pervasive insecurity and collapsing economy.”
President Tinubu came to office last year vowing to tackle Nigeria’s insecurity, including jihadists in the northeast, criminal militias in the northwest and a flareup of intercommunal violence in central states.
But critics say the kidnapping crisis is out of control. The president said he plans to address the root causes of the violence through education.
