Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 election, has blasted President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his administration for failing to address insecurity in Nigeria.
In a recent remark on the microblogging site X, the LP presidential candidate mentioned a surge in kidnappings and fatal attacks in 2023, despite the president’s pledge in his inaugural address.
“The snatching rose sharply after Mr. Tinubu took office. And almost 9,000 Nigerians were killed in conflict last year,” Obi wrote.
Obi’s criticism came following a wave of kidnappings in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), including the viral case of the deceased Nabeeha Al-Kadriyah and her sisters, whose ransoms were supported by a former minister. He accused the present government of failing to respond to national insecurity until it struck their home.
“How much politicians in Nigeria care about national security has historically been correlated to how close it gets to their mansions in Abuja. On its outskirts on January 2nd, a father and his six daughters were kidnapped, prompting a rare outcry on high,” he said.
He also questioned the defence budget, noting that it focused on obtaining expensive and ineffective technologies rather than combating the root issues.
He said “defense got a fifth more than it did last year”. However, with inflation at 29 percent, the defence budget has actually decreased.
“The government tends to splurge on fancy weapons systems that fail to tackle the roots of the problem, which are poverty, poor education, and anger at army atrocities,” said Obi.
“The latest budget includes funds for six t-129 Turkish attack helicopters on top of the 12 costly Bell choppers bought last year from America for $1 billion, not to mention 12 Super Tucano attack aircraft.
“Buying strike drones has become so popular that the army runs a fleet alongside that of their force. But drones are very good at guarding schools from kidnappings, and heavy weaponry risks disaster. A drone recently killed at least 85 civilians at a festival in Kaduna State — not the first such cock-up.
“The army promised to “fine-tune” its operations, but more radical change is needed. The police, well equipped but able to use better human intelligence, should lead on domestic security, not the army, which has been deployed in all 36 of Nigeria’s states.”
