‘You Cannot Govern By Hiding Corpses’, Atiku Fires At Tinubu Over Rising Insecurity

Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has accused President Bola Tinubu of failing to tackle Nigeria’s worsening insecurity, declaring that the President “cannot govern by hiding corpses” amid increasing cases of killings, kidnappings and attacks across the country.

Atiku made the remarks in a statement issued on Tuesday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, in reaction to the abduction of schoolchildren and teachers in Ogbomoso land, Oyo State, and the killing of innocent residents in Katsina State, including a pregnant woman.

The former vice president condemned the incidents “in the strongest possible terms,” describing them as further proof that Nigeria was “bleeding under a government that has reduced leadership to post-tragedy press statements.”

Atiku said he was particularly heartbroken by reports of the gruesome killing of one of the teachers abducted during the Ogbomoso school kidnapping incident, adding that the continued bloodshed across the country reflected not only a breakdown of security but also a frightening collapse of leadership at the highest level.

“At a time when armed criminals are abducting schoolchildren, slaughtering innocent citizens, and turning communities into graveyards, President Tinubu’s response remains the same tired ritual: condemn the killings, threaten that the perpetrators will face the ‘full wrath of the law,’ and then wait for the next massacre,” the statement read.

“Nigerians have heard this script too many times. It has become painfully predictable and utterly meaningless.

“President Tinubu must stop governing by obituary statements.

“Enough of the recycled outrage. Enough of the empty threats. Nigerians are dying, and this government keeps responding with press releases.

“A President who only finds his voice after blood has been spilled is not leading but presiding over failure.”

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) chieftain and 2027 presidential aspirant said the horrifying abduction in Ogbomoso and the gruesome killings in Katsina State were not isolated incidents but part of a disturbing national pattern where criminals now operate with confidence because they no longer fear the Nigerian state.

“The horrifying abduction in Ogbomoso and the gruesome killings in Katsina are not isolated incidents. They are part of a grim national pattern in which criminals operate with terrifying confidence because they no longer fear the Nigerian state,” he said.

“When terrorists can invade schools, abduct children and teachers, butcher pregnant women, sack entire communities, and disappear without consequence, it is because the authority of the state has collapsed.”

Atiku questioned the repeated assurances by the government that perpetrators would face the law, asking what comfort such statements offered grieving families.

“What comfort is ‘the full wrath of the law’ to families already burying their loved ones? What solace is another presidential statement to parents now terrified that sending their children to school may be a death sentence?” he asked.

The former vice president also raised concerns over alleged attempts to suppress images and reports of violent attacks from reaching the Nigerian public.

“Even more disturbing are reports suggesting deliberate attempts to suppress images and documentation of these atrocities from reaching the Nigerian public.

“If this government is indeed more interested in censoring evidence of mass killings than in preventing the killings themselves, then that is not merely incompetence — it is cruelty of the highest order.

“No serious government hides the blood of its citizens to protect political optics.

“A government that cannot protect the living but seeks to censor evidence of their deaths has lost every moral right to govern.”

Describing the situation as a moral and leadership failure, Atiku said Nigerians deserved more than “performative outrage and ceremonial condolences.”

“This is no longer just a security failure. It is a moral failure. A leadership failure. A national disgrace,” he added.

“Nigerians deserve more than performative outrage and ceremonial condolences. They deserve a government that can protect lives, defend communities, and act before tragedy strikes — not one that merely reacts after the damage is done.”

The former vice president called for the immediate rescue of all abducted victims in Oyo State, urgent and decisive security action across vulnerable communities nationwide, and a comprehensive overhaul of Nigeria’s security architecture, which he described as increasingly ineffective.