The Tinubu administration has repeatedly demonstrated a staggering incapacity to address the nation’s spiraling security crisis. This is no longer just the view of the opposition—it is a sentiment echoed by security experts, analysts, and even disillusioned members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) who whisper their frustrations behind closed doors. The evidence is undeniable: Nigeria is in the grip of unrelenting violence, and President Bola Tinubu’s response is marked by indifference and absence.
The latest tragedy in Benue State’s Ukum LGA, where bloodshed has once again scarred the Logo and Gbagir communities, underscores the administration’s failure. Innocent lives are lost with chilling frequency, yet the presidency offers neither urgency nor empathy. Instead, as Nigerians mourn, President Tinubu is abroad, governing—if one can call it that—from a distance. This is not leadership; it is abandonment.
Contrast this with global examples of leadership in crisis. In 2016, President Barack Obama cut short a diplomatic trip to address a deadly attack on police officers in Dallas. In 2019, South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa abandoned a state visit to tackle an electricity crisis at home. Even Senator Ted Cruz, widely criticized for vacationing in Mexico during a Texas storm, returned and owned his error. Closer to home, President Goodluck Jonathan rushed back from Equatorial Guinea in 2014 after a bomb blast in Abuja. These are the minimum expectations of a leader in times of national grief.
But Tinubu? He remains conspicuously absent, jetting across Europe while Nigeria burns. If he cannot offer solutions to the worsening insecurity—banditry, terrorism, and communal clashes—then the least he can do is show up. If he cannot muster genuine empathy, he could at least feign it. Nigerians, regardless of ethnicity, religion, or political affiliation, deserve a president who acknowledges their pain.
To the people of Benue State, I extend my deepest condolences. We grieve with you and stand in unwavering solidarity. This administration may lack the competence to deliver safety and dignity, but we will not cease holding it accountable. President Tinubu must do more than govern in absentia. Nigeria is bleeding. It is time for him to act—or at the very least, to care.
Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President of Nigeria, is a leading voice for accountable governance.
