The Tanimu Turaki-led faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has blamed the President Bola Tinubu-led administration and the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the killing of one of the abducted secondary school teachers in Oyo state by bandits.
NPO Reported the gruesome murder of Oyedokun Micheal, a Mathematics teacher who was beheaded by the bandits three days after his abduction alongside his colleagues and students of Community High School in Ahoro-Esinele, Oriire Local Government Area of the state.
Sequel to the murder of the teacher, Tinubu had vowed the arrest and prosecution of the assailants while assuring the public of ongoing effort to rescue the remaining abducted victims.
Reacting in a statement issued by the National Publicity Secretary, Ini Ememobong, the Turaki-led faction of the PDP blamed Tinubu over the development, accusing the President of lacking capacity to curtail the mayhem.
The PDP described the killing of the schoolteacher as an addition to the endless catalogue of victims under what it labelled a ransom economy.
‘The killing of the mathematics teacher, one of those abducted from three schools in Oyo State, is yet another indication of the helplessness that has defined the Tinubu-led APC Federal Government in the management of the nation’s security.
“Under this administration, insecurity is no longer a crisis in Nigeria, it is now the lived reality of our citizens.
“What was once an alarming anomaly has been normalised by a government that has demonstrated, repeatedly, that it lacks either the capacity to fight it or the will to reverse it.
“This latest abduction and killing is one addition to a now endless catalogue of victims, catalysing a ransom economy that has quietly consumed trillions of Naira from the pockets of ordinary Nigerians.” The statement partly read.
While expressing its sympathies to the families of the deceased and kidnap victims, the Turaki-led PDP charged the government to move beyond their vintage performative assurances of bringing culprits to book.
The party warned of increase in out-of-school kids’ population if the attack on schools continues.
‘Instead, they should deploy practical, sustained, and results-driven security interventions. Not press releases or condolences only. The targeting of schools is not incidental.
“It is a direct assault on Nigeria’s future. For a country already carrying one of the highest out-of-school child populations in the world, every attack on a school deepens a crisis that was already at emergency levels.
“Left unchecked, this will inevitably result in a drop in school attendance and lower literacy penetration nationwide.
“The long-term cost to national development is a burden no future administration should be left to inherit.
“Under this APC administration, the kidnapping of students has become a norm rather than an exception.
“Sadly, the government’s response has been, at best, half-hearted and disparate.” Ini wrote.
The party further called for the adoption of a whole-of-society approach in tackling the insecurity concern in the country, adding that Tinubu should the energy used in constricting political space against opposition to building a strong security architecture.
“We admonish the President to deploy even half the energy, tact, and strategies he and his team invest in constricting the political space against the opposition, toward building a security architecture that protects lives.
“A whole-of-society approach to security, firmly backed by genuine political will, community engagement, and institutional coordination, can deliver the sustainable results that Nigerians have been promised and denied for too long.
“The government must choose between taking on security headlong or owning up to its failure.” The Turaki-led PDP added.