ENUGU, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)- Presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has called on President Bola Tinubu to immediately deploy all security and intelligence resources to secure the release of school children and teachers abducted in Oyo State, warning that failure to act would amount to a collapse of basic governance responsibility.
Atiku, speaking through his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, said the reported distribution of rice and other relief materials to families of victims amounted to a “cruel” and “morally bankrupt” response to a deeply traumatic national tragedy.
He argued that affected families were not in need of palliatives but urgent action to rescue their loved ones and bring the perpetrators to justice.
“The cruelty of such a response is difficult to comprehend. Parents whose children have been torn from their arms are not asking for rice,” Shaibu stated on behalf of Atiku.
According to him, families of the abducted children are living in anguish and uncertainty, not in need of symbolic handouts.
“Mothers who do not know whether their children are hungry, sick, traumatised, or even alive are not demanding palliatives. Fathers who wake up every morning praying for a phone call announcing the safe return of their children are not looking for handouts,” he said.
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Atiku further said the situation reflects a worsening security crisis in which insecurity has become normalised under the current administration led by President Bola Tinubu.
He described the abduction as another painful reminder that criminal groups now operate with increasing boldness while government responses, according to him, fall short of expectations.
“It is a damning verdict on this government that while criminals operate with audacity and freedom, innocent schoolchildren are abducted from their classrooms, and the official response is the distribution of rice,” he said.
He added that such actions represent an abdication of responsibility by the state, insisting that governance should prioritise rescue operations over symbolic gestures.
“This is not governance. This is an abdication of responsibility. It is a tragic confession of failure by an administration that seems increasingly overwhelmed by the very duties it swore to perform,” he added.
Atiku warned that continued normalisation of insecurity is pushing Nigeria into a dangerous reality where citizens live in fear and parents are forced to factor ransom into daily survival planning.
He stressed that criminality must be met with consequences to prevent further escalation of attacks on communities across the country.
“There must be consequences for those who prey on innocent Nigerians. Anything less will only embolden other criminal gangs and place more communities in danger,” he warned.
The former vice president urged the federal government of Nigeria to act swiftly, insisting that Nigerians are tired of excuses and public relations responses to security emergencies.
He said if the government cannot guarantee the safety of schoolchildren, it should openly acknowledge its failure rather than offer what he described as insulting token gestures to grieving families.