A former governor of Abia State, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, has alleged that the recent wave of killings and mass abductions across Nigeria is politically motivated.
Kalu claimed that some local politicians and international actors are sponsoring violent groups to destabilise President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
Speaking on Sunday Politics on Channels Television, he said the pattern mirrors what occurred in the run-up to the 2015 elections during former President Goodluck Jonathan’s tenure, when insurgency escalated nationwide.
“What we are seeing is something that goes with the elections. People will try to pressure the government in power for all kinds of things to start happening. You can remember when President Jonathan was here, a similar thing happened,” he said.
Kalu disclosed the bandits and terrorists behind the current attacks were being sponsored “by some members of the international community and local people who really want to destabilise the government,” though he declined to name them.
He added that the intelligence community “knows the people responsible,” linking the recent surge in violence to comments made months earlier by US President Donald Trump about killings in Nigeria.
According to him, some of the attackers were “missionaries bought by politicians… centred to destabilise the President who is ready to revamp the economy.”
Despite the rising insecurity, the Abia senator said President Tinubu had shown he was “equal to the task,” noting that he cancelled official engagements to focus entirely on security matters.
“It’s not the best of times for Nigeria. But those abducted girls will be recovered. The government is making every effort to ensure they are rescued,” he said.
Kalu also backed Tinubu’s recent directive withdrawing police officers attached to VIPs, describing the move as timely.
On US–Nigeria relations, he said cooperation with Washington would be helpful “when the US president consults with the Federal Government,” adding, “We need that partnership.”
Nigeria has witnessed a series of deadly attacks in recent days. Last Monday, gunmen abducted 25 schoolgirls from Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School, Maga, in Kebbi State, killing the vice principal.
A day later, over 300 students of St Mary’s Catholic Primary and Secondary Schools in Niger State were taken by bandits, although church authorities confirmed that 50 managed to escape.
Gunmen also struck a Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) parish in Eruku, Kwara State, last Tuesday, killing three worshippers and abducting 38 others. The abducted congregants were later freed, according to the state government.
Kalu said Tinubu was having “sleepless nights” over the worsening security situation but upheld confidence that ongoing operations by security agencies would yield results.
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