Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has strongly criticised the Federal Government over recent waves of violent attacks and abductions across parts of the country, accusing President Bola Tinubu’s administration of failing to provide meaningful security for citizens.
In a statement released through his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu on Tuesday, Atiku reacted to the kidnapping of schoolchildren and teachers in Ogbomoso, Oyo State, as well as the killing of civilians in Katsina State, including a pregnant woman.
He described the incidents as further evidence of what he called a worsening security breakdown under the current administration.
He also expressed sadness over reports that one of the teachers abducted in Ogbomoso had been killed, saying the repeated loss of innocent lives reflected a deep crisis of leadership and state responsibility.
Atiku said the government’s responses to such tragedies had become routine and ineffective, arguing that official reactions were often limited to condemnations and assurances without concrete action.
Quoting him, the statement read, “At a time when armed criminals are abducting schoolchildren, slaughtering innocent citizens, and turning communities into graveyards, President Tinubu’s response remains the same tired ritual: condemn the killings, threaten that the perpetrators will face the ‘full wrath of the law,’ and then wait for the next massacre.
“Nigerians have heard this script too many times. It has become painfully predictable and utterly meaningless. President Tinubu must stop governing by obituary statements.
“Enough of the recycled outrage. Enough of the empty threats. Nigerians are dying, and this government keeps responding with press releases.
“A President who only finds his voice after blood has been spilled is not leading but presiding over failure.”
He argued that the attacks in Ogbomoso and Katsina were part of a broader pattern of insecurity across the country, which he said indicated a loss of state control in several vulnerable communities.
“The horrifying abduction in Ogbomoso and the gruesome killings in Katsina are not isolated incidents. They are part of a grim national pattern in which criminals operate with terrifying confidence because they no longer fear the Nigerian state.
“When terrorists can invade schools, abduct children and teachers, butcher pregnant women, sack entire communities, and disappear without consequence, it is because the authority of the state has collapsed.
What comfort is ‘the full wrath of the law’ to families already burying their loved ones? What solace is another presidential statement to parents now terrified that sending their children to school may be a death sentence?”
Atiku also raised concerns over alleged attempts to restrict public access to images and reports of violent incidents, describing such actions as troubling if confirmed.
The presidential hopeful added, “Even more disturbing are reports suggesting deliberate attempts to suppress images and documentation of these atrocities from reaching the Nigerian public.
“If this government is indeed more interested in censoring evidence of mass killings than in preventing the killings themselves, then that is not merely incompetence — it is cruelty of the highest order.
“No serious government hides the blood of its citizens to protect political optics.
“A government that cannot protect the living but seeks to censor evidence of their deaths has lost every moral right to govern.”
He further described the prevailing situation as a failure of leadership, warning that Nigerians deserve more decisive governance rather than reactive statements after tragedies.
“This is no longer just a security failure. It is a moral failure. A leadership failure. A national disgrace.
“Nigerians deserve more than performative outrage and ceremonial condolences. They deserve a government that can protect lives, defend communities, and act before tragedy strikes — not one that merely reacts after the damage is done.”
Atiku called for the urgent rescue of abducted victims in Oyo State and urged a comprehensive review of Nigeria’s security framework to address rising attacks on communities.
