Atiku slams Tinubu government over Kebbi kidnap response
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has criticised the Nigerian government over its handling of the recent abduction of schoolgirls in Kebbi State, accusing the Bola Tinubu administration of turning a national tragedy into a propaganda exercise.
In a statement issued by his media office on Wednesday, Atiku faulted Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser on Information and Strategy to the President, for describing the release of the abducted students as a “triumph.”
Onanuga had earlier told Arise News TV that the Department of State Services (DSS) and the military tracked the kidnappers in real time and even established contact with them.
Atiku dismissed the comments as a shameful attempt to mask government failure, questioning why security agencies who claimed to be monitoring the kidnappers did not apprehend or neutralise them.
The statement read: “Why were these criminals not arrested, neutralised, or dismantled on the spot? Why is the government boasting about talking to terrorists instead of eliminating them?
“Why is kidnapping now reduced to a routine phone call between criminals and state officials?
“This irresponsible and reckless narrative exposes the truth: Under Tinubu terrorists/bandits have become an alternative government — negotiating, collecting ransom, and walking away untouched — while the presidency celebrates their ‘compliance.’”
Atiku added: “No serious nation applauds itself for negotiating with terrorists it claims to have under surveillance. No responsible government congratulates itself for allowing abductors to walk back into the forests to kidnap again.”
He urged Onanuga and other government officials to stop “insulting Nigerians with propaganda,” insisting that the conflicting claims point to either incompetence or complicity.
“If the security agencies truly had eyes on the kidnappers, then letting them escape is a national disgrace that smacks of complicity.
“And if they did not have such capacity, then Onanuga is simply manufacturing lies to cover up a monumental failure of leadership.
“Either way, the statement is an embarrassing admission that this administration has lost control of national security and is now trying to spin incompetence into achievement.”
Atiku concluded that Nigerians deserve real protection, “not fairy tales by moonlight.”
