Former Vice President and presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has launched a scathing attack on the federal government's response to the recent abduction of schoolchildren and teachers in Oyo State. Atiku described the reported deployment of government officials bearing bags of rice and other palliatives to the victims' traumatized families as "cruel, morally bankrupt, and an open confession of failure."
In a detailed statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, the opposition leader argued that the distribution of food items in the wake of a security disaster highlights a deep disconnect between the leadership and the painful reality on the ground.
The Call for Strategic Mobilization Turning his attention directly to Aso Rock, Atiku urged President Bola Tinubu to immediately halt superficial public relations exercises and instead mobilize the nation's entire security apparatus. He demanded the immediate, unconditional deployment of all tactical, military, and intelligence agencies to track down the bandits and secure the safe release of the hostages.
According to the statement:
“The cruelty of such a response is difficult to comprehend. Parents whose children have been torn from their arms are not asking for rice. Mothers who do not know whether their children are hungry, sick, traumatised, or even alive are not demanding palliatives. Fathers who wake up every morning praying for a phone call announcing the safe return of their children are not looking for handouts. What these families need is action."
A Culture of 'Budgeting for Ransom' The former Vice President warned that under the current administration, the state of national insecurity has deteriorated from an intermittent emergency into a normalized, harrowing way of life. In one of the statement's most damning segments, Atiku noted that the failure of state security has altered the economic planning of ordinary Nigerians, forcing parents to budget for potential kidnappings and ransom payments with the same casual regularity they use for school fees.
He concluded with a warning on accountability, stating that a government unable to protect children inside their own classrooms has abdicated its primary constitutional duty. Atiku cautioned that treating security lapses with material hand-outs rather than aggressive law enforcement will only embolden criminal syndicates and place more vulnerable communities across the federation in direct peril.