Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar criticized the Federal Government for celebrating the release of the abducted schoolgirls in Kebbi State, asserting that their freedom should be seen as proof of Nigeria’s worsening security crisis, not an achievement.
In a statement on Wednesday, Atiku called the return of the girls “not a trophy moment” but a “damning reminder that terrorists now operate freely, negotiate openly, and dictate terms.”
His remarks responded to comments by Presidential Special Adviser Bayo Onanuga, who, in an interview, highlighted that the Department of State Services (DSS) and the military tracked the kidnappers in real-time and made contact to secure the students’ release without paying ransom. Onanuga explained that security agencies must act cautiously to avoid harming civilians near the criminals’ strongholds.
Atiku rejected Onanuga’s explanation as “a shameful attempt to whitewash a national tragedy and dress up government incompetence as heroism.” He questioned: “If, as Onanuga claims, the DSS and the military could ‘track’ the kidnappers in real time and ‘made contact’ with them, the question is simple: Why were these criminals not arrested, neutralised or dismantled on the spot?”
He argued that the administration’s statements suggest that “terrorists and bandits have become an alternative government, negotiating, collecting ransom, and walking away untouched.” Atiku concluded that no serious nation would celebrate negotiating with terrorists it claims to have under surveillance or allow abductors to return to the forests to kidnap again.
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