Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has criticized the government following deadly attacks in Oyo and Katsina States, where schoolchildren and residents were reportedly killed or abducted.
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has strongly condemned the abduction of schoolchildren and teachers in Ogbomoso, Oyo State, and the killing of residents in Katsina State, describing both incidents as clear signs of what he termed a “collapse of leadership” under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration.
In a statement released by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku expressed grief over reports that one of the kidnapped teachers had been killed, and warned that the deteriorating security situation across the country had exposed serious weaknesses in Nigeria’s security framework.
He accused the president of responding to violent incidents with the same predictable cycle of condemnations and empty threats, arguing that such responses had become hollow and meaningless to ordinary Nigerians who continue to lose their lives.
Atiku said the repeated attacks on schools and communities had emboldened criminal groups who now operate with little fear of consequences, adding that a leader who only speaks after lives have been lost is not truly leading but overseeing failure.
He argued that the Ogbomoso abduction and the Katsina killings were not isolated events but part of a broader and deeply troubling national pattern in which armed groups act freely because the authority of the state has effectively broken down.
The former vice president also raised concerns over what he described as alleged efforts by the government to suppress graphic evidence and documentation of attacks from reaching the public, calling such actions if true not merely incompetent but cruel.
He stressed that no responsible government prioritises its political image over the lives of its citizens.
Atiku concluded that the situation had gone beyond a security failure and had become a moral and leadership crisis, calling on the government to move beyond ceremonial statements and take decisive action.
He specifically demanded the immediate rescue of all abducted victims in Oyo State, stronger security operations in at-risk communities, and a thorough overhaul of Nigeria’s overall security architecture.