Lucky Obukohwo, Reporting
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has urged President Bola Tinubu to immediately instruct all security and intelligence agencies to mobilise every available resource to ensure the unconditional release of the abducted Oyo pupils and teachers.
Atiku, in a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, described the abduction of the Oyo pupils and teachers as another tragic reminder that insecurity has, under the Tinubu administration, allegedly become a way of life.
The former Vice President noted the reported dispatch officials with bags of rice and other palliatives to families of the abductees, mirrors alleged moral bankruptcy and alarming cluelessness of the government.
“The cruelty of such a response is difficult to comprehend. Parents whose children have been torn from their arms are not asking for rice. Mothers who do not know whether their children are hungry, sick, traumatized, or even alive are not demanding palliatives.
“Fathers who wake up every morning praying for a phone call announcing the safe return of their children are not looking for handouts. What these families need is action.
“What they need is leadership. What they need is a government capable of rescuing their children and bringing the criminals responsible to justice”, Atiku said.
Atiku decried that Nigeria has gradually descended into a country where the lives of innocent citizens appear to count for little, while those entrusted with power continue to offer propaganda and token gestures in place of real solutions.
“It is a damning verdict on this government that while criminals operate with audacity and freedom, innocent schoolchildren are abducted from their classrooms and the official response is the distribution of rice. This is not governance.
“This is an abdication of responsibility. It is a tragic confession of failure by an administration that seems increasingly overwhelmed by the very duties it swore to perform.”
The former Vice President noted that every kidnapping leaves behind wounds that cannot be captured in statistics, adding that behind every abducted child is a mother unable to sleep, a father struggling with despair, siblings living in fear, and a community traumatised by uncertainty.
He said “These children are not numbers on a government spreadsheet. They are the hopes of families. They are the future of our nation. Every hour they spend in captivity is an hour too many. Every day that passes without their rescue is a stain on the conscience of those charged with protecting them.”
Atiku, further warned that the normalization of insecurity under the All Progressives Congress (APC) led Federal Government has pushed Nigeria into a dangerous reality where citizens now live under constant fear.
“Today, many Nigerian parents budget for ransom the same way they budget for school fees. Farmers fear their farms. Travelers fear the highways.
“Communities fear the night. Yet those in power continue to congratulate themselves while innocent Nigerians bear the consequences of their incompetence. A nation cannot survive when its citizens are abandoned to criminals and its leaders respond with public relations gimmicks.
“The government must stop treating these tragedies as routine news items. The captors must be hunted down, arrested, prosecuted, and made examples of. There must be consequences for those who prey on innocent Nigerians. Anything less will only embolden other criminal gangs and place more communities in danger.
“A government that cannot protect schoolchildren has failed one of the most basic tests of leadership.
A government that responds to abductions with rice instead of rescue operations sends a dangerous signal that it has run out of ideas.
“If this administration can no longer guarantee the safety of Nigerian children, then it should have the humility to admit its failure rather than insult grieving families with token palliatives.
“Bring the children home. Bring their teachers home. Arrest their captors. Secure our schools. Restore confidence in the ability of the state to protect its citizens. Anything less is unacceptable,” Atiku said.
