Mr President, if you cannot protect Nigerians, resign

By Anthony Ubani
 
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 Ahmed 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.

The Nigerian Constitution is clear. Section 14(2)(b) provides that “the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government.” On May 29, 2023, President Tinubu swore to preserve, protect and defend that Constitution. If the primary purpose of government is security, then a government that cannot secure its citizens has failed at its first duty. Not its second duty. Not its optional duty. It’s first duty.

The facts are no longer debatable.

Amnesty International reported that at least 1,100 people were abducted in Nigeria between January and April 2026 alone, warning 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.

As if that were not enough, on June 4, gunmen abducted seven students from an off-campus residence in Kaura Namoda, Zamfara State. One escaped; six remained in captivity, according to the police report cited by AP. On June 3, the sister of former Minister of Power Adebayo Adelabu and her 12-year-old twin sons were kidnapped in Ibadan while she was taking the children to school. If even the relatives of the powerful are no longer safe, what then is the fate of the nameless Nigerian farmer, teacher, trader, student, pastor, imam, driver and market woman?

The killing is not limited to civilians. Our soldiers are also being wasted. In March, The Guardian reported that at least 65 Nigerian soldiers were killed in jihadist raids in the north-east, with ISWAP reportedly overrunning military bases in Borno State and abducting about 300 civilians. On June 5, AP reported that militants attacked a military base in Mandaragirau, Borno State, killing five soldiers, according to the Nigerian Army. Nigerian media reports, citing military sources, further alleged that some soldiers were beheaded during that attack. Even if one relies only on the official figure, the question remains brutal: if soldiers can no longer sleep safely in their own bases, who exactly is safe in Nigeria?

Across the country, the map of insecurity has become a national shame. In late April, Vanguard reported killings across Adamawa, Benue and Plateau, including 39 people killed in Guyaku, Adamawa; seven killed in Benue; a pastor, his wife and two children murdered in Plateau; and 23 pupils abducted from a school facility in Kogi. AP also reported that at least 20 people were killed in a nighttime attack in the Gari Ya Waye community in Plateau State. This is no longer a northern crisis, a rural crisis, a religious crisis, or a regional crisis. This is a Nigerian collapse.

President Tinubu has condemned some of these attacks. He has ordered deployments. He has approved forest guards. He has issued the familiar statements. But condolences do not rescue abducted children. Press releases do not stop bullets. Promises do not bring back beheaded citizens. 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, President Bola Tinubu’s administration has failed.

And this is where President Tinubu must be confronted with his own words. In May 2013, when he was a former Lagos governor and leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria, he wrote an article titled Jonathan Bares His Fangs, criticising President Goodluck Jonathan’s handling of insecurity. He said Nigeria was “adrift,” called the ship of state “rudderless,” described attacks as signs of a failing state, and said the central government controlled the security agencies and could not shift responsibility to governors.

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 are dying today under his presidency.

Mr President, by your own standard, this is a 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.

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.

Resignation is not a coup. It is not anarchy. It is a constitutional exit from failed leadership. The Constitution already provides for succession where the office of president becomes vacant by resignation. So let nobody pretend that asking a failing president to resign is asking Nigeria to collapse. Nigeria is already collapsing in the hands of those who swore to protect it.

This call is not about 2027. It is about today. It is about the children in captivity tonight. It is about the teacher whose classroom became a trap. It is about the soldier sent to defend Nigeria but abandoned to superior firepower and poor intelligence. It is about the farmer who cannot go to the farm, the traveller who cannot use the road, the worshipper who cannot pray in peace, and the parent who now sends a child to school with fear in the heart.

Mr President, Nigerians are not asking for miracles. We are asking for the basic promise of statehood: protect us. If you cannot do that, step aside.

History is not kind to leaders who mistake endurance for legitimacy. A person may suffer quietly for a season, but suffering does not mean consent. Fear does not mean acceptance. Exhaustion does not mean approval. Nigerians are tired of being told to be patient while criminals grow bolder, forests become prisons, schools become hunting grounds, and the government becomes a spectator at the funeral of its own citizens.

The presidency is not a trophy. It is a duty. When the duty fails, honour demands exit.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu should resign before Nigeria becomes one vast graveyard of citizens who waited for a government that never came.

Anthony Ubani is a leadership and governance expert and a citizen of Nigeria. He currently serves as Executive Director of #FixPolitics Africa