₦2 Trillion Paid To Kidnappers In 2025 – Donald Duke Blasts FG

Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), Donald Duke, has lamented that Nigeria has become so desolate that bandits and kidnappers now collect taxes.

He blamed the political class for the country’s situation, adding that it is time for the common man to take the reins of power.

Naija News reports that Duke spoke in Abuja during the presentation of Certificates of Return and party flags to the PRP candidates for the 2027 elections.

He said, “Our land has become so desolate that bandits, gangsters and kidnappers collect taxes while the government collects excuses. As reflected in a report by the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics, approximately ₦2tn was paid as ransom to kidnappers in 2025 alone, an amount equivalent to about 10 per cent of the entire federal budget.

“All this is because our leaders have failed to do what is right when it was right and for whom it was right. At the end of the day, the best politics is, and always will be, doing the right thing, not the expedient thing. And he who does not know what is right has no business leading others.”

He promised to build a country where “farmers return safely from their fields and where every child has a desk and chair in a decent learning environment.”

While explaining that the elite has had their turn in leadership, Duke said the PRP mission was to empower ordinary Nigerians rather than political elites.

“The scavengers have had their turn. Now it is the turn of the common man, the true Nigerian, market woman, farmer and the unemployed graduate. And I, Donald Duke, seek to be their champion.

“This fight will be tough and bitter, for they will fight back. But we are tougher, more resilient, and our cause is both right and just. If we stood together to win our independence from an empire, together we can redeem Nigeria from these scavengers,” he said