ADC accuses govt, police of plot to cover up Kaduna abduction to look good

From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has condemned the silence of the  Federal Government on the abduction of worshipers in Kajuru.

The party, in a statement by its interim National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, accused the government and the police of plot to cover up the abduction in order to look good.

The opposition party stated that government response to the issue raises questions as whether “a government whose first instinct is to withhold information and hide the truth be trusted to protect lives and improve security?”

It noted that “the deliberate denial of a verified mass abduction is not a communications error. It is the behaviour of a government obsessed with looking good rather than solving problems. In moments of violence and emergency, truth is the first line of defence.

“It guides response, enables rescue, mobilises communities, and reassures a frightened public. However, when a government chooses silence or falsehood, it compounds danger, delays action, and deepens trauma. A government that lies during a security crisis does not merely fail its people; it actively places them at further risk.”

Furthermore, the ADC added that “credible reports that journalists, civil society actors, and independent observers were prevented from accessing affected communities make us wonder what exactly the government was attempting to hide. A government committed to solving problems in a time of crisis asks for information, not suppresses it.

“When official institutions dismiss verified accounts from families, community leaders, and religious bodies as falsehoods, they erode the very trust upon which effective security depends.

“This incident has also exposed serious contradictions in the so-called Kaduna peace approach. While the government moved swiftly to deny a major kidnapping in order to preserve a public image of peace and security, senior officials have openly acknowledged negotiations and concessions to bandits and criminal elements.

“This approach may grant immediate wins, but it is not sustainable; it is a dangerous gamble that rewards criminality while leaving law-abiding citizens vulnerable to further attacks.

The ADC also condemns the Federal Government’s stone silence on this latest abduction of worshippers. This silence does not only suggest a lack of empathy; it indicates a government that is frustrated and has therefore chosen denial and silence.

“But silence by the Federal Government is not a strategy. It only reveals a government irritated that the public image it seeks to sell is being undermined by the reality of persistent insecurity in the country.”

The ADC, while calling on the government yo commence immediate efforts to rescue the victims, also demanded for a probe of the incident” including the role of all security and government officials involved in disseminating false information. “

The party posited that “no Nigerian should ever have to beg their government to acknowledge their suffering. No family should be forced to prove that their loved ones have been taken by violence before the state will act.

The ADC stands with the people of Kaduna State and with all Nigerians who believe that leadership begins with honesty, that authority carries responsibility, and that the first duty of government is to protect life, dignity, and truth.”