The 2027 presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has called on President Bola Tinubu to step down from his position as the leader of Nigeria.
Atiku, in a statement on Thursday, linked the country’s insecurity challenges to the leadership failure of the Tinubu administration.
According to him, President Tinubu has failed in the responsibility of protecting the citizens of the country.
The ADC Presidential candidate expressed deep concern about the worsening insecurity in the country, stressing that it poses a direct threat to the nation’s education system and makes a mockery of the so-called Safe Schools initiative.
Atiku expressed embarrassment at the frequency with which terrorists are threatening citizens with impunity without an appropriate response from the government.
PrimeTimes Nigeria reports that the former Vice President spoke against the backdrop of the recent happenings in which no less than 42 schoolchildren were kidnapped on May 15 in terrorist raids in Government Day Secondary School, Mussa Central Primary School, and the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) Secondary School in Mussa town, Askira-Uba Local Government Area of Borno State.
On the same day, over 40 students and teachers were also abducted from Community High School, Ahoro-Esiele; Primary School, Esiele; and Yawota Baptist Nursery and Primary School, all in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo state.
A teacher was subsequently beheaded by the terrorists in a gruesome manner, while the victims remain in captivity.
Atiku said that despite the prevailing challenges, the Tinubu-led All Progressives Congress (APC) administration continues to make empty promises.
He therefore called on the federal government to expedite action on the safe release of school children abducted in Oyo and Borno states.
While noting that the primary responsibility of any government is the security and welfare for the governed, Atiku urged Tinubu to step down from office in the interest of Nigerians.
“President Tinubu has no moral or political latitude to stay in Aso Villa a day longer if tens of hundreds of abducted citizens languish in captivity across the country.
“What type of government will allow non-state actors to turn its national territory into killing fields and a haven for kidnapping and extortion?” the Waziri of Adamawa queried.
According to Atiku, security should not be treated as a political slogan and that the citizens can only be impressed by prompt and effective response to security challenges.
He added that when terrorist abductions are allowed to drag on, it creates incentives for future attacks on schools by criminal elements.
“Impunity makes the terrorists bolder and more determined to carry out future attacks. The citizens look up to the government for urgent and prompt interventions to banditry and terrorist attacks,” Atiku said adding that “the government must project confidence in the minds of the citizens that it is capable of protecting them at all times,” he said.
The former Vice President said pointedly that official condemnations of terrorist abductions are not enough if they are not followed up with prompt rescue action.
He recommended the speedy dispensation of justice in the trial of arrested terrorists, lamenting the delay in Nigeria’s criminal justice system, in which terrorism trials drag on endlessly.
“We urgently need special courts to speed up the trial of terrorists and bandits in the country. In addition, the death penalty must be applied to terrorism offences in the country. But the death penalty itself cannot be effective if the government lacks the political will to promptly sign the death warrants for convicted terrorists,” he said.