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From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
The African Democratic Congress ( ADC) has berated President Bola Tinubu for attending the Argungu Fishing Festival in Kebbi State, at a time that terror attacks were spreading in the country.
The ADC, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, yesterday, said the President got his priorities wrong by choosing to attend a fishing festival, while funeral processions were growing longer across the country, as result of the activities of terrorists.
The ADC stated that about 1,300 Nigerians have reportedly been killed, in the last 41 days, with hundreds of others, including nursing mothers and children, still in captivity.
The opposition party expressed concern over a video allegedly linked to the recent Kaiama abductions in Kwara State, in which insurgents were seen openly challenging official figures on the number of victims.
The warned that the growing boldness of armed groups, particularly within the Kwara corridor, was an indication that the government may be losing control of a strategic part of the country. It stated that this could provide terrorists a foothold into other parts of the country.
The ADC said: “We are especially concerned that at a time of rising insecurity, the President and Commander-in-Chief was in Argungu, attending a fishing festival, even as credible reports indicate that nearly 1,300 Nigerians have been killed in the last 41 days. Once again, innocent Nigerians and their families are left to bear the tragic brunt of terror, while the President fiddles away attending a fishing festival.
“We are also greatly disturbed by the emergence of a video allegedly released by terrorists in connection with the recent abductions in Kaiama Local Government Area, challenging official figures on the number of kidnapped victims. This development comes amid fresh reports of terrorist activity in Patigi Local Government Area of the same state as recently as last night.
“It will be recalled that the southern part of Kwara State has been under sustained terrorist pressure since last year. Now, with attacks spreading northward at scale, terrorists appear to be tightening their grip on the state and exploiting it as a potential safe haven.
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“The implications for the wider country are both clear and alarming. It is, therefore, shocking that the President could choose to attend a fishing festival while terrorists threaten to expand their operations.”
The party, while stating that recent developments in Kwara State was of strategic significance to the country, noted that, “the Kaiama axis provides a direct link into Oyo State. Any sustained insurgent activity within this corridor could, therefore, create wider vulnerabilities across parts of the North Central and South West.
“The situation in Kwara State must not be treated as an isolated incident but as a potential early warning of geographic expansion by terror actors.
“When non-state actors become sufficiently emboldened to publicly contradict official figures, it signals a troubling erosion of deterrence and raises serious questions about the management of both the security and information environments. But this could only mean one thing: the terrorists now view kidnapping as a commercial enterprise and they are determined not to be short-changed in the ransom negotiations they expect will follow.
“On previous occasions, we have reiterated our longstanding position that the payment of ransom to terrorists, whether directly or indirectly, risks further entrenching the criminal economy that sustains mass abductions. While the safe return of victims remains paramount, disguising ransom payments as rescue operations only creates perverse incentives for future attacks.”
It charged the Federal Government to mount a coordinated rescue operation to return every abducted Nigerian home, issue a full and transparent public briefing that resolves the emerging discrepancies around the number of victims and undertake an urgent security audit of the Kaiama and Kainji Lake Forest corridor.
The party, while urging the government to ensure a strengthened interstate security coordination across the Kwara, Niger and Oyo axis, so as to halt further terrorist movement, called for a regular and credible public communication to restore confidence and deny terrorists the advantage of propaganda.
“Nigerians are tired of the APC and Bola Tinubu-led government’s assurances on security while citizens continue to be slaughtered at will. What the country needs is a government and a president who demonstrably cares and will do everything necessary to protect the people. That urgency is tragically lacking under the present administration.
“The ADC will continue to hold the Federal Government accountable while supporting every credible effort to defeat terrorism and reclaim every part of our national territory. Nigeria must never appear weak in the face of terror,” it stated
