Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has delivered one of his most withering attacks on President Bola Tinubu’s administration, warning that no amount of political rhetoric or declarations of resolve could substitute for the protection of citizens’ lives, and that the deaths of thousands of Nigerians represented a judgment on the government’s performance that transcended any political debate.
In a statement issued through his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku said the president’s suggestion that worsening insecurity would not push him from office demonstrated a troubling disconnection from the daily reality confronting millions of Nigerians across every region of the country.
He described the president’s posture as not only painful but fundamentally incompatible with the responsibilities of leadership, arguing that reducing the suffering of victims and their families to political talk was an affront to the principles of empathetic and accountable governance. “It is horrifying that the deaths of innocent citizens killed due to failures in security are reduced to mere political rhetoric,” he said.
Atiku cited figures suggesting that over 10,000 Nigerians had been killed since May 2023, with some reports placing the toll above 18,000 within two years of the current administration. He framed the death toll not as a political statistic but as a profound human tragedy demanding institutional accountability.
“It is not political opponents who will judge this administration, it is the blood of innocent Nigerians being shed daily across the country. That blood speaks louder than any declaration of political resolve. These are not just numbers, they are families shattered, communities destroyed, and a nation bleeding,” he said.
He specifically condemned what he described as an inadequate federal response to the attack in Ilejemeje, Ekiti State, where armed men stormed a church vigil, killed a pastor, and abducted multiple worshippers, arguing that such incidents demanded far more empathy and urgency from the national government.
He warned against attempts to silence legitimate criticism, insisting that Nigerians experiencing the consequences of governance failures in their daily lives had both the right and the democratic responsibility to hold their leaders accountable.
“Ultimately, the people will decide based on what they see and experience. When lives are lost and communities destroyed, governance itself is on trial and no rhetoric can overturn that verdict. At a time like this, Nigerians do not need bravado, they need protection. They do not need assurances of political endurance, they need evidence of leadership,” he concluded.
