Former vice-President Atiku Abubakar speaks during the People's Democratic Party (PDP)'s national convention in Port Harcourt, Rivers State on October 6, 2018. - Nigeria's main opposition People's Democratic Party (PDP) has picked Abubakar to challenge President Buhari who is seeking a second term in presidential polls scheduled for February 2019. (Photo by PIUS UTOMI EKPEI / AFP) (Photo credit should read PIUS UTOMI EKPEI/AFP via Getty Images)
The resurgence of killings in the North-Central shows clearly that the Tinubu administration has abandoned the region to bloodshed. Kwara, once safe, is now a hotspot of bandit and kidnap attacks. Niger State has seen militants attack military bases, murder soldiers, and even massacre worshippers in a mosque. Plateau and Benue continue to bury their dead while the Federal Government looks away.
By May this year, just two years of Tinubu’s rule, over 10,000 lives had been lost in Northern states, with Benue accounting for more than half. Since then, mass killings continue weekly, while the government pretends nothing is wrong. This is a monumental failure in the basic duty of securing lives and property.
Instead of fighting insecurity, the ruling APC is fighting the opposition using thugs, infiltrators, and hired hooligans to break up political meetings in Kaduna, Kebbi, and Ogun. In each case, security forces failed to act and even blamed the victims. The silence of the APC leadership is proof of complicity.
Let it be clear: violence is a vicious circle that will eventually consume those who use it. Any politician who needs violence to win is desperate, unpopular, and dangerous to democracy.
We remind the Nigeria Police: you are funded by taxpayers, not by the APC. Your duty is to remain neutral, fair, and constitutional. Anything less is betrayal of public trust
