‘Nigeria Under A Tourist In-Chief’ – Atiku Demands President Tinubu’s Resignation

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has expressed concern about the rising insecurity under President Bola Tinubu’s government, urging him to resign if he cannot address the issue.

VerseNews reports that Atiku made the statement on Tuesday while reacting to the gruesome killing of two traditional rulers which occurred during Monday’s dastardly attack in Oke-Ako area in Ikole Local Government Area of the state on Monday,

The two traditional rulers- the Onimojo of Imojo Ekiti, Oba Olatunde Samuel Olusola and the Elesun of Esun Ekiti, Oba David Babatunde Ogunsola were killed in an ambush by armed men while returning from a meeting. The third traditional ruler, the Alara of Ara –Ekiti, Oba Adebayo Fatoba escaped the attack.

In the same Ekiti, six school pupils and their teachers were abducted and are yet to be rescued as of the time of filing this report.

All of these are happening while Tinubu is currently in Paris, France, on a private visit.

Reacting via his X handle, Atiku stated that Nigeria needs full-time leadership, not another “Tourist-in-Chief”.

He said; “Tinubu is playing fiddle while Nigeria is drowning in the ocean of insecurity. To imagine that the Commander-in-Chief is on a so-called private visit while kidnappers kill a nursing mother and grandmother in Abuja for failing to pay N90m ransom and two monarchs in Ekiti, among other regular tragedies besetting Nigerians.

“If the shoes are too big for Emilokan, he should step aside. Nigeria does not need another Tourist-in-Chief. The country needs 24/7 leadership to confront the pervasive insecurity and collapsing economy. -AA”

As the insecurity continues, civil society groups, under the aegis of the Civil Society Joint Action Group, said 17,469 Nigerians were abducted under the Muhammadu Buhari and Bola Tinubu administrations from 2019 to date.

Addressing a press conference in Abuja on Monday, the Civil Society Joint Action Group, revealed that 2,423 persons had been killed, while 1,872 others had been abducted since the inauguration of President Tinubu.

Speaking on behalf of the group, the Executive Director of the Civil Society Legislative and Advocacy Centre, Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, said insecurity had persisted over the last three administrations, with 24,816 Nigerians killed and 15,597 persons abducted in the last administration of President Buhari, between 2019 and 2023.

Out of the total number of 17, 469 kidnapped from 2019 and to date, 90 per cent of the cases were recorded under Buhari, while 10 per cent have been recorded under Tinubu.

The Ekiti State Governor, Mr Biodun Oyebanji, has condemned the dastardly attack on the monarch, which led to the gruesome killing of the two traditional rulers, and ordered security agencies in the state to fish out the killers.

Oyebanji, in a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media, Yinka Oyebode, said security agents had been dispatched to the area to fish out the perpetrators of the heinous crime.

The governor, who presided over the state security council meeting in Ado Ekiti, barely an hour before the incident occurred, said that “no stone will be left unturned in the bid to bring the perpetrators to justice.”

He expressed the condolences of the government and people of Ekiti State to the people of Imojo Ekiti and Esun Ekiti over the sad incident.

The governor also urged the people of the two towns to remain calm and refrain from taking the laws into their own hands, saying, “Government would ensure that justice is served.

Oyebanji charged security agencies in the state “to remain vigilant and resolute in the efforts to stamp out crime and criminality from the state.”