Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has said the Federal Government should not present the release of abducted schoolgirls in Kebbi State, as an achievement but as evidence of Nigeria’s worsening security environment.
Atiku’s Media Office stated this on Wednesday, quoting Atiku saying the return of the schoolgirls was “not a trophy moment” but “a damning reminder that terrorists now operate freely, negotiate openly, and dictate terms while this administration issues press statements to save face.”
Presidential spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga, while fielding questions on Arise News TV on Monday, said the Department of State Services and the military played role in reaching the kidnappers in real time and establishing contact to secure the girls’ release without paying ransom.
Onanuga said although security operatives have the necessary intelligence, their operations are often constrained by the risk of collateral damage to civilians being held by the bandits.
“The security people know all the bandits that are operating in that axis. They know them. They know where they operate.
“Our people are living around where they operate. So you can’t just go there. They need to be very careful that in the course of chasing these bandits, they don’t go and bomb innocent Nigerians,” he said.
But Atiku described the narrative as “a shameful attempt to whitewash a national tragedy and dress up government incompetence as heroism.”
“If, as Onanuga claims, the DSS and the military could ‘track’ the kidnappers in real time and ‘made contact’ with them, then the question is simple: Why were these criminals not arrested, neutralised, or dismantled on the spot?
“Why is the government boasting about talking to terrorists instead of eliminating them? Why is kidnapping now reduced to a routine phone call between criminals and state officials?” the former vice president asked.
Atiku said the FG’s statement was an indication that “terrorists and bandits have become an alternative government, negotiating, collecting ransom, and walking away untouched, while the presidency celebrates their compliance.”
“No serious nation applauds itself for negotiating with terrorists it claims to have under surveillance. No responsible government congratulates itself for allowing abductors to walk back into the forests to kidnap again,” Atiku said.
