The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has told President Bola Tinubu to either seek urgent assistance or step down, as a series of fresh attacks and mass abductions continue to unsettle northern Nigeria.
Speaking at a press conference in Abuja on Sunday, the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Ini Ememobong, said the recent kidnapping of schoolchildren in Kebbi and Niger states, alongside the abduction of worshippers in Kwara, underscored what he described as the government’s inability to contain a deteriorating security situation.
Ememobong argued that the administration had failed in its primary constitutional duty to safeguard citizens, insisting that the president must confront the crisis with greater urgency.
“We again remind the President, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, and the entire APC-led administration that the security of lives and property is the primary function of any government. At any time government is unwilling, unable, or incapable of executing this primary role, such a government must either ask for help, locally or internationally, or honourably resign, if it is sincere and responsible,” he said.
He criticised both federal and state authorities for ordering the closure of schools in affected communities, warning that such measures amounted to capitulation and risked worsening the educational crisis in the North.
UNICEF estimates that most of Nigeria’s 18.3 million out-of-school children are concentrated in the region.
The PDP spokesman also faulted the federal response, describing it as slow and politically motivated.
He questioned the decision to delegate the crisis response to the Minister of State for Defence instead of the president visiting affected communities.
“More troubling is the fact that when these unfortunate incidents happen, the administration’s response is usually lacklustre and unempathetic.
“Instead of the President visiting Kebbi and Niger to meet the parents of the children who are in captivity, and to address security personnel there, he merely directed the Minister of State for Defence to relocate to Kebbi,” he said.
Ememobong argued the party was alarmed that the Federal Government had yet to deliver a coordinated plan despite multiple kidnappings recorded within days.
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