They Are Not Asking For Rice – Atiku Fires Tinubu Over Oyo Kidnap Response

Presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has described the reported dispatch of government officials bearing bags of rice and other palliatives to the families of Oyo kidnap victims as cruel, morally bankrupt, and an open confession of failure.

Naija News reports that Atiku stated this via a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu.

He warned that a government unable to protect schoolchildren has failed one of the most basic tests of leadership.

Atiku urged President Bola Tinubu to immediately mobilise all security and intelligence agencies to secure the unconditional release of the schoolchildren and their teachers.

The statement reads, “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. What they need is leadership. What they need is a government capable of rescuing their children and bringing the criminals responsible to justice.” 

The former Vice President said the abduction was yet another tragic reminder that under the Tinubu administration, insecurity had ceased to be an emergency and had become a way of life.

“It is a damning verdict on this government that while criminals operate with audacity and freedom, innocent schoolchildren are abducted from their classrooms, and the official response is the distribution of rice. This is not governance. This is an abdication of responsibility. It is a tragic confession of failure by an administration that seems increasingly overwhelmed by the very duties it swore to perform,” Atiku said.

He cautioned that normalising insecurity had pushed Nigeria into a dangerous reality in which citizens lived under constant fear, noting that many Nigerian parents now budget for ransom the same way they budget for school fees.

“There must be consequences for those who prey on innocent Nigerians. Anything less will only embolden other criminal gangs and place more communities in danger,” Atiku warned.