Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has squarely confronted President Bola Tinubu on the pressing issue of national security, highlighting the persistent kidnappings that plague the entire nation.
Atiku Abubakar, who vied against Tinubu in the 2023 presidential race, has taken on President Bola Tinubu, urging him to relinquish his position if he cannot effectively address the escalating security challenges plaguing the nation.
Even as cases of insecurity escalate, the former vice president highlighted that the President exhibited the audacity to depart the country for a private visit to France.
Atiku said the country does not need another “Tourist-in-Chief”.
Last week Wednesday, Tinubu left Abuja for Paris, France, for a private visit.
The disclosure came through a statement titled ‘President Tinubu travels to France,’ issued by his special adviser on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale.
Although the statement did not state the reasons for the visit, Ngelale said, “He will return to the country in the first week of February 2024.”
President Tinubu’s recent visit to France constitutes his third trip to the country within the first eight months of his tenure.
The Peoples Democratic Party and the Labour Party joined in demanding an explanation for what the Presidency labeled as a private visit.
In light of the prevailing insecurity and economic hardships, Ibrahim Abdullahi, PDP’s Deputy National Publicity Secretary, argued that it was the most unfavorable time for Tinubu to engage in a foreign expedition.
Yunusa Tanko, the spokesperson for the LP 2023 Presidential Campaign Council, claimed that the journey concealed a hidden agenda and insinuated that the President’s health might be a contributing factor.
But reacting to the visit and pocket of kidnappings in Nigeria, Atiku said the country needs an active leader to confront insecurity.
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‘Tinubu is playing fiddle while Nigeria is drowning in the ocean of insecurity. 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.’
‘If the shoes are too big for Emilokan, he should step aside. Nigeria does not need another Tourist-in-Chief. The country needs 24/7 leadership to confront the pervasive insecurity and collapsing economy,’ Atiku said in a post on his X account on Tuesday.
Its reports that daredevil kidnappers have continued to unleash terror on citizens in different parts of the country in defiance of security arrangements put in place to tackle the issue of abduction for ransom, which has lately assumed the level of commercial transactions.
In a recent incident, three riot police inspectors were abducted last Friday evening in the Ohoror community, situated off the East-West Road in Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta State.
Simultaneously, on Saturday, gunmen kidnapped Alhaji Akeem Akintola, the Oyo State Chairman of the Tipper, Lorry, and Quarry Park Management System.
Similarly, on Saturday, Professor Godwin Emezue, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Abia State University, Uturu, was seized from a petrol station in Umuekwule, Amachara—a community falling within the Umuahia South Local Government Area of the state.
Regrettably, on Monday, two Ekiti State monarchs met their untimely demise at the hands of gunmen believed to be kidnappers along the Ipao-Oke Ako Road.
The Civil Society Joint Action Group, representing various civil society organizations, disclosed that 17,469 Nigerians fell victim to abduction under the administrations of Muhammadu Buhari and Bola Tinubu from 2019 to date.