“You Cannot Govern by Hiding Corpses”: Atiku Blasts Tinubu Over Insecurity

By Emmanuel Kwada

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has sharply criticised President Bola Tinubu’s handling of Nigeria’s security crisis, saying the government cannot continue to “govern by hiding corpses.”

Atiku condemned the recent abduction of schoolchildren and teachers in Ogbomoso, Oyo State, and the killing of innocent citizens in Katsina State, including a pregnant woman, describing the incidents as evidence of a deepening leadership failure.

No serious government hides the blood of its citizens to protect political optics.

In a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku said the recurring violence reflects a complete collapse of state authority, where criminals now operate without fear.

“At a time when armed criminals are abducting schoolchildren, slaughtering innocent citizens, and turning communities into graveyards, President Tinubu’s response remains the same tired ritual: condemn the killings, threaten that the perpetrators will face the ‘full wrath of the law,’ and then wait for the next massacre,” Atiku said.

He accused the government of offering only “recycled outrage” and “empty threats” after every tragedy, adding that Nigerians are tired of presidential statements that have become “painfully predictable and utterly meaningless.”

Atiku further alleged that there are attempts to suppress images and information about these atrocities, describing such actions as “cruelty of the highest order.”

“No serious government hides the blood of its citizens to protect political optics. A government that cannot protect the living but seeks to censor evidence of their deaths has lost every moral right to govern,” he said.

The former Vice President described the situation as “no longer just a security failure” but “a moral failure, a leadership failure, and a national disgrace.”

Atiku called on the federal government to immediately rescue the remaining abducted victims in Oyo State, take urgent action to secure vulnerable communities, and carry out a comprehensive overhaul of the nation’s security architecture.

He emphasised that Nigerians deserve a proactive government that prevents tragedies rather than one that merely issues statements after lives are lost.

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