Insecurity: No one safe under Tinubu administration -Atiku
By Ndukaku Ihe
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has said that no one in the country is safe under the President Bola Tinubu administration.
Atiku, who stated this while reacting to the kidnap of the sister and twin nephews of former Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, on Wednesday, implored the government to jettison its reactive approach to the security issues.
The former Vice President, in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, charged the Tinubu administration to implement a comprehensive, intelligence-driven strategy capable of dismantling kidnapping syndicates and securing vulnerable communities.
The African Democratic Congress (ADC), while condemning the abduction, urged security agencies to deploy every available resource towards ensuring their safe rescue and the swift arrest and prosecution of those responsible.
He stated that the incident underscores the depth of the country’s security crisis, noting that “it is shocking that such a brazen abduction reportedly occurred in the heart of Ibadan at the bustling Challenge Bus Stop, one of the city’s busiest and most recognizable locations.”
Atiku stated that the fact that kidnappers could strike in such a prominent public space without fear of interception speaks volumes about the worsening security situation in the country.
According to him, ” while millions of ordinary Nigerians have endured the horrors of kidnapping for years, this latest incident raises a question that the Tinubu administration can no longer evade: if government officials have become desensitized to the suffering of ordinary citizens, should they not at least be alarmed when insecurity reaches the doorstep of one of their own?
He added that “across the country, families are being subjected to unimaginable trauma as kidnappers and other criminal elements operate with growing audacity. Schoolchildren are abducted from classrooms, farmers are driven from their lands, travelers are kidnapped on highways, and entire communities are held hostage by fear. Yet, despite these grim realities, the government’s response has too often been characterized by excuses, propaganda, and palliatives rather than decisive action.
“If the endless cries of ordinary Nigerians were not enough to spur this government into action, one would have expected that an attack affecting the family of a former member of the administration would finally underscore the urgency of the crisis. Sadly, insecurity has become so pervasive that no one is truly insulated from its consequences.”
Atiku noted that “kidnappers do not ask for party membership cards before striking. They do not distinguish between APC members and opposition supporters. They do not care whether their victims are ministers, former ministers, traders, teachers, students, or farmers. The same insecurity that has turned the lives of ordinary Nigerians into a daily nightmare is now knocking on doors many in government may have assumed were beyond its reach.”
The former Vice President, while stating that a government that cannot guarantee the safety of its citizens is failing in its most fundamental obligation, lamented that” Nigerians now budget for ransom payments the same way they budget for school fees and where parents live in constant fear of receiving devastating phone calls about their loved ones.”
