THE presidential candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 general elections, Atiku Abubakar, and his Labour Party (LP) counterpart, Peter Obi, have urged President Bola Tinubu to return home and address the unwarranted attacks and killings in the country, especially in Benue and Plateau states, rather than remain in France while violence and insecurity persists at home.
Tinubu, who departed Nigeria for France on April 2, was yet to return home, despite the killings.
Atiku, in a statement by his media office, on Wednesday, April 16, said Tinubu cannot keep feasting and enjoying himself while countless lives are being lost to ongoing attacks in renewed attacks by suspected herdsmen in several Benue and Plateau communities in the last two weeks, leading to the death of over 150 persons.
In reaction, Atiku urged Tinubu to return home and fulfil his primary constitutional responsibility of safeguarding the country and improving the welfare of its citizens.
He stated: “On April 2, 2025, President Bola Tinubu flew out to France. Had this absurd announcement come just a day earlier, Nigerians would have dismissed it as an April Fool’s joke.
“But sadly, it’s no prank, just another insult to a nation pushed to the brink by a presidency that treats its citizens like fools.
“The official excuse? A so-called “working visit.” But Nigerians aren’t buying the spin. The presidency scrambled to clarify that it wasn’t a medical trip, how noble?
“But even if it’s not medical tourism, what justification is there for gallivanting across Europe while Nigeria bleeds? What kind of leader borrows billions only to blow scarce funds on vanity trips abroad? It’s not just irresponsible; it’s contemptuous.
“Let the facts speak for themselves. By the time Tinubu struts back from this latest escapade, he will have racked up a staggering 59 days in France since assuming office. See Paris and die? No, see Paris and abandon your country.”
“While Tinubu dines under chandeliers in the land of good governance, the country he governs is spiralling into chaos. Plateau has turned into a killing field, over 100 lives lost in relentless attacks. Benue is bleeding. Boko Haram is seizing territory. And every single day, Nigerians sink deeper into poverty, insecurity, and despair.
“This isn’t just negligence; it’s dereliction of duty on a catastrophic scale.”
Atiku siad there is nothing Tinubu is handling in France that couldn’t be addressed within Nigeria, adding: “Let’s be honest; there is absolutely nothing Tinubu is doing in France that he couldn’t do in Lagos, or even in Iragbiji. This so-called working visit is nothing more than a vacation cloaked in official jargon.
“Nigeria is in a full-blown state of emergency. Not a contrived political emergency, like what Tinubu declared in Rivers for partisan gain; this is a national collapse.
“So, when exactly will Tinubu declare a state of emergency on his disastrous presidency?”
On his part, Obi, has called on Tinubu to suspend all his engagements in France and rush home to address the current security challenges facing the country.
In a statement on his X handle on Wednesday, April 16, the former governor of Anambra State
recalled that since the president left the country, there have been some security challenges, including killings in Plateau and Benue states, as well as protests among opposing political groups in Rivers State, following his declaration of state of a emergency and suspension of democratic structures there, including the governor.
Obi said he is compelled to call on Tinubu to suspend his ongoing “retreat in a foreign land and come home to address the overwhelming security situation across the country, adding: “This urgent call has become necessary following the rising incidents of crimes and criminality all over Nigeria, with an apparent absence of governance.
“In the two weeks you have been away, over 150 Nigerians have lost their lives to insecurity across Nigeria, especially in Plateau and Zamfara states.
“The repeated pipeline explosions in the Niger Delta, further reflect a nation in distress.
“In the Northeast, Borno State leaders are bemoaning the return of insurgency, with troops and civilians being killed randomly.
“In the Southeast, the story is the same: killings and abductions.
“Amid all these, the CEO of the troubling company called Nigeria is retreating to far away land in France from the company’s headquarters.”
He said the primary duty of any government was securing lives and property of its citizens, wondering the type of “retreat” going on in a foreign country where “peace has been secured by their leaders while blood continues to flow in our country.”
He stated further: “I, therefore, like to urge Mr. President to quickly suspend whatever he is doing in France and rush home to take responsibility by addressing these disturbing issues.”
