Atiku Slams Tinubu Over Insecurity, Says Nigeria Is ‘A Nation Under Siege’

‘Leadership has collapsed’

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar launched one of his sharpest attacks yet on the Tinubu administration on Tuesday, declaring that Nigeria is “a nation under siege” and that the government’s leadership “has collapsed” in the face of mounting insecurity.

The statement, reported by Punch and The Guardian, comes days after two devastating back-to-back abductions — 50-plus schoolchildren taken in Borno’s Mussa community and 32 pupils, students, and teachers kidnapped from three schools in Oyo’s Oriire Local Government, where one teacher was killed.

“The unfortunate reality is that Nigerians no longer feel safe anywhere — not in their homes, not in their schools, not on their farms, and not on the roads,” Atiku said, according to Punch.

Pattern of criticism intensifying

Tuesday’s broadside is the third major statement from the former vice president in a matter of weeks. On May 12, he attacked Tinubu’s security strategy after a former federal lawmaker, Abba Anas Adamu, died in captivity. The earlier statement accused the administration of failing to protect citizens.

Atiku, now the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) for the 2027 elections, has made insecurity the centrepiece of his opposition to Tinubu’s government. The growing frequency and severity of his statements — Punch alone has carried at least three in the last month — suggest a deliberate campaign strategy as the 2027 race heats up.

Leadership newspaper also reported that Atiku specifically cited the Oyo school abduction and recent killings in Katsina State as evidence of a deepening crisis.

Context: a bloody week

The former vice president’s statement lands during one of the heaviest weeks of violence in Nigeria this year. Within a 72-hour span, the country saw the Borno mass abduction on May 16, the Oyo school attack on May 17, deadly violence at APC House of Representatives primaries in Plateau and Lagos, and a new wave of shootings at Senate primaries in Delta State.

The Presidency has not yet responded directly to Atiku’s latest statement, but President Tinubu on Monday called the killing of the Oyo teacher “barbaric” and directed Inspector-General of Police Tunji Disu to personally lead the rescue operation for the remaining captives.

Meanwhile, northern senators and a growing chorus of governors have revived calls for state police legislation — a proposal Tinubu himself endorsed in his Monday statement on the abductions. With 2027 approaching and security dominating headlines, expect the political temperature to keep rising.

Sources: Punch, The Guardian, Leadership