The 2023 presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Adewole Adebayo, has accused the Federal Government of enabling insecurity and said President Bola Tinubu has lost control of his administration.

Adebayo, who spoke in an interview on Tuesday’s edition of Channels Television’s Politics Today programme, said the country cannot pretend to lack the tools to fight violent crime and tackle the rising insecurity.

“The government needs to come out and confess the truth that they are enabling this insecurity, and they cannot pretend that they don’t have all the tools that it takes (to tackle insecurity),” he said.

“The first enemy of government is government. The first enemy of the people is the government. You cannot commit a crime and last one week, or one month, if you don’t have government people cooperating with you,” Adebayo added.

The SDP chieftain questioned how ransom money moves freely through the system. He advised President Tinubu to reorganise the security architecture urgently.

“I cannot go now to the bank manager in my bank and say to them that I want to withdraw 6 million naira; they will not answer me — (calling the) EFCC, money laundering.

“But people are paying millions of naira in ransom. The people collecting the ransom are not worried about where they are carrying the money to.

“What I am letting you know is that President Tinubu, in my own humble view, has lost control of his government and he is flailing around—he needs to put his hands together, organise his government, and make sure that he understands that the police cover this country effectively because every local government in Nigeria has a police division,” he said.

The politician argued that every local government already has at least one police division that should be privy to respond quickly to threats.

Adebayo also questioned the government’s operational priorities and wondered how armed groups execute mass abductions with ease.

“There is a DPO; even in some large or massively populated local governments, you have more than one division of police there.

“Are you telling me that in Eruku, in Isapa and in all those places, there is no division there? Are you saying that if there is a youth corps member in Eruku criticising the APC or the government, they will not go and arrest the person?

“This is a government that could capture somebody in Nairobi, Kenya and bring him here for trial and sentence the person, but they cannot capture people who are going around.

“How do you go and carry hundreds of people? Have you been a nursery school teacher before? To get 35 children to cooperate with you in the class, is it easy? How will you carry 35 people?” he said.

Wave of Attacks

Adebayo’s comments come amid rising insecurity across several northern states.

Since last Monday, armed groups have carried out major school abductions in Kebbi and Niger states, escalating national concern over student safety.

The Niger attack is the latest in a series of abductions involving schoolchildren.

In Kebbi, gunmen kidnapped 25 schoolgirls and killed a senior staff member. In Niger State, attackers seized 303 pupils and 12 teachers at St Mary’s Catholic School; about 50 pupils later escaped.

An attack also recently hit Isapa, where 11 residents, including children, nursing mothers, and a pregnant woman, were abducted during a raid.

Several states, including Katsina, Taraba, Plateau, Kebbi, and Bauchi, closed schools as a precaution, and the Federal Government shut 47 Unity Colleges nationwide.

In light of the recent attacks, President Tinubu ordered full security cordons and expanded Air Force surveillance across Kwara, Kebbi, and Niger.

Meanwhile, the 24 schoolgirls abducted in Maga, Kebbi, were freed on Tuesday, with Tinubu urging intensified efforts to rescue the remaining victims. (Channels TV)