Former presidential candidate Peter Obi has called on President Bola Tinubu to immediately return from his trip to France to address the rising wave of insecurity across Nigeria.
President Tinubu left for a two-week “working visit” to France on April 2, reportedly to review his administration’s midterm performance and plan strategically ahead of its second anniversary.
However, during his absence, Nigeria has witnessed a disturbing surge in violence, including killings and abductions, particularly in Plateau and Benue states. Obi expressed deep concern over the president’s absence, urging him to suspend the retreat and return home to take charge of the worsening security crisis.
“I am compelled at this time in our lives as a nation to call on our retreating President’s attention to the security challenges at home, which entails that he immediately suspend his ongoing retreat in a foreign land and come home to address the overwhelming security situation across the country,” Obi stated.
According to Obi, over 150 Nigerians have been killed during Tinubu’s two-week absence, with Plateau and Zamfara states being the epicenters of violence. He also highlighted repeated pipeline explosions in the Niger Delta, which he said point to a nation in distress.
Obi further emphasized that insecurity has spread to every region of the country, citing renewed insurgency and killings in the North-East and abductions and violence in the South-East.
“In the North East, Borno state leaders are bemoaning the return of insurgency with troops and civilians being killed randomly. In the South East, the story is the same: killings and abduction,” he said.
Criticizing Tinubu’s absence, Obi described the president as a “retreating CEO” of a troubled nation. “Amid all these, the CEO of the troubling company called Nigeria is retreating in a faraway land in France from the Company’s headquarters,” he noted.
Obi emphasized that the core responsibility of any government is the protection of its citizens, questioning the relevance of a strategic retreat in a peaceful foreign country while violence continues to claim lives back home.
“The fight for a better Nigeria is not about individuals; it is about ensuring that every citizen can see, feel, and benefit from the policies and decisions of those in power,” he added.
