•Atiku and Tinubu
The presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and former Vice President of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar has decried the worsening state of insecurity in Nigeria, expressing concern that the terrorists and bandits attacks are now targeted at not only wasting precious human lives, but crippling the country’s education.
Atiku raised the concern in a statement issued last night by his media office and made available to The Frontier.
His statement follows the latest attack on Government Secondary School, Iluke Bunu, Kabba-Bunu Local Government Area of Kogi State in which three persons, including the vice principal of the school, and two others were killed while several students were abducted.
Recall that a total of not less than 90 school children were on May 15 abducted in Oriire, Oyo State and Mussa, Borno State and the principal in the Oriire school beheaded.
According to the statement, the PDP presidential candidate in the 2027 election is worried that there is a pattern in these attacks aimed at crippling the nation’s education sector and consequently stalling our development strides.
The former vice president therefore, called for the declaration of emergency on security in Nigeria. He, however, noted that the envisaged state of emergency on security does not include the suspension of elected officials of states.
According to the Waziri Adamawa, the latest attack on a school in Kogi State is a direct threat to education and a colossal national embarrassment that demands urgent and drastic action.
“It is high time the federal government declared a statement of emergency to empower commanders with more freedom to act decisively and proactively with these monsters in the county,” Atiku said.
“I am not in any way calling for the removal of elected officials, but rather advocating for commanders to have freer hand to protect their battlefield decisions from political interference.”
The ADC presidential candidate explained that “Nigeria is facing worsening insecurity that demands extraordinary measures, including a state of emergency.
“Learning can only take place in a safe environment and terrorist attacks on schools are increasingly making our schools dangerous places. Worse still, the anxiety and trauma that follow terrorist attacks on schools will inevitably make the school environment unsafe for both students and teachers.
“Under no circumstances, should we allow terrorists or bandits to destroy our way of life and stop our children from going to school.”
The former vice president added that “a terrorist attack on one school is a threat to schools elsewhere across the country because of its domino-effect.”
As part of the drastic measures to address these security challenges, Atiku advocated the establishment of national guards made up of retired veterans to complement the efforts of our military and police that are clearly overstretched and under-manned.
He also called for improved human intelligence on terrorist movements and greater community vigilance, explaining that “our communities have a great role to play in information sharing and eternal vigilance.”
