In the face of widespread insecurity across the country, the Executive Director of #FixPolitics Africa, Anthony Ubani, has advised President Bola Tinubu to relinquish power as the nation’s chief security officer if he cannot govern.
On May 29, 2023, while taking office, President Tinubu swore to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution, which provides in Section 14(2)(b) that “the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government.”
Ubani, in a statement, noted that Nigeria has reached the point where silence becomes complicity, apparently drawing from the reasoning of the late Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha, that “if insurgency lasts more than 24 hours, the government has a hand in it.”
He wrote, “There comes a point when silence becomes complicity. Nigeria has reached that point. I write not as a member of any political party, not as an agent of any opposition, and not as a man seeking political advantage. I write as a citizen of a country where life has become cheap, where children are kidnapped from classrooms, teachers are beheaded, soldiers are slaughtered in their bases, and ordinary people now live as if death is permanently standing at their doorstep.
“President Bola Tinubu should resign. That is not a statement made lightly. It is not abuse. It is not partisan bitterness. It is the hard conclusion forced upon any honest citizen by the scale of bloodshed, kidnappings, abductions and fear now consuming Nigeria.”
According to him, if the primary purpose of government is security, then a government that cannot secure citizens has failed at its first duty. “Not its second duty. Not its optional duty. Its first duty. The facts are no longer debatable.”
Quoting Amnesty International, which reported that at least 1,100 people were abducted in Nigeria between January and April 2026 alone, he lamented that victims are often subjected to torture, starvation, amputation, rape and other atrocities.
“In March alone, EONS Intelligence recorded 176 violent security incidents, 383 fatalities and 55 kidnapping incidents involving 229 victims across the country. These are not opposition slogans. These are not beer-parlour rumours. These are documented indicators of a republic bleeding from every artery.
“In the last few weeks, the horror has become even more personal and more unforgivable. On May 15, gunmen attacked schools in Oyo State and abducted at least 39 schoolchildren and seven teachers. Reuters reported that one teacher was killed in captivity and that rescue operatives were wounded by explosive devices planted by the attackers. The Guardian later reported that a 57-year-old mathematics teacher, Michael Oyedokun, was beheaded in captivity, while the youngest abducted children were just two and three years old. A nation that cannot protect toddlers in school has no right to pretend that government is functioning,” he stated.
While acknowledging Tinubu’s condemnation of some of these attacks and condolences, Ubani said condolences do not rescue abducted children, while press statements do not stop bullets.
He added, “A government is not judged by the eloquence of its outrage after tragedy; it is judged by its capacity to prevent tragedy, protect life, pursue criminals, rescue victims, prosecute perpetrators and restore public confidence. By that standard, Tinubu’s administration has failed.”
Recalling Tinubu’s tirade in May 2013 against then President Goodluck Jonathan’s handling of insecurity, when the former Lagos governor said Nigeria was “adrift” and the ship of state “rudderless”, the public affairs commentator said those words now return to him like a moral subpoena.
“What Tinubu said about Jonathan now applies to Tinubu with even greater force. The same federal security architecture he once accused Jonathan of controlling is now under his command. The same excuses he rejected then are now being offered under his watch. The same constitutional duty he invoked then now sits on his own desk. The same citizens whose blood he used as evidence of federal failure then are dying today under his presidency.
“Mr President, by your own standard, this is failure. Nigeria cannot continue like this. We cannot continue waking up to fresh graves, fresh kidnappings, fresh excuses and fresh presidential condolences. We cannot continue pretending that a country where schoolchildren are abducted, teachers are beheaded, soldiers are killed in their bases and families pay ransom to criminals is merely facing ‘security challenges’. This is not a challenge. This is a national emergency of leadership,” he stated.
According to the leadership and governance expert, the argument for resignation is simple. “If President Tinubu has a credible security plan, Nigerians should have seen its results by now. If he has competent security leadership, citizens should not be disappearing into forests every week. If he has control of the state, criminals should not be controlling highways, schools, villages, farms and military frontlines. If he cannot protect children, teachers, soldiers and ordinary citizens, then he has no moral business remaining in office.”