The 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, has berated President Bola Tinubu for remaining in France while violence and killings persist in Benue and Plateau states.
In a statement released by his media office on Wednesday, Atiku stated that President Tinubu cannot keep feasting and enjoying himself while countless lives are being lost to ongoing attacks.
Since March 9, when renewed attacks by suspected Fulani herdsmen claimed at least 15 lives in several communities within Katsina-Ala Local Government Area of Benue State, more casualties have continued to be recorded due to assaults by unidentified gunmen.
In a related incident, a fresh attack occurred on Sunday night in Zike hamlet, Kimakpa community, Kwall District of Irigwe Chiefdom, Bassa Local Government Area of Plateau State, where at least 52 people were confirmed dead, including an entire family of eight, and numerous properties were destroyed by fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite the ongoing violence in Benue, Plateau, and other parts of the country, President Tinubu, who departed for France on April 2, has yet to return to Nigeria.
In his response, the former Vice President called on Tinubu to return to the country and fulfil his primary constitutional responsibility of safeguarding the nation and enhancing the welfare of its citizens.
The statement reads, \u201cOn 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\u2019s joke. But sadly, it\u2019s no prank \u2014 just another insult to a nation pushed to the brink by a presidency that treats its citizens like fools.\u201d
\u201cThe official excuse? A so-called \u201cworking visit.\u201d But Nigerians aren\u2019t buying the spin. The presidency scrambled to clarify that it wasn\u2019t a medical trip \u2014 how noble? But even if it\u2019s 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\u2019s not just irresponsible\u2014 it\u2019s contemptuous.
\u201cLet 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 \u2014 see Paris and abandon your country.\u201d
\u201cWhile 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 \u2014 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This isn\u2019t just negligence. It\u2019s dereliction of duty on a catastrophic scale,\u201d he stated.
Atiku stated that there is nothing Tinubu is handling in France that couldn\u2019t be addressed within Nigeria.
The statement read in part, \u201cLet\u2019s be honest: there is absolutely nothing Tinubu is doing in France that he couldn\u2019t do in Lagos, or even in Iragbiji. This so-called working visit is nothing more than a vacation cloaked in official jargon.
\u201cNigeria is in a full-blown state of emergency. Not a contrived political emergency like what Tinubu declared in Rivers for partisan gain \u2014 this is a national collapse. So, when exactly will Tinubu declare a state of emergency on his disastrous presidency?
\u201cIf Tinubu had even a shred of empathy, he would cut his trip short and return immediately. A leader with an ounce of patriotism wouldn\u2019t need to be begged to show up in times of crisis.\u201d
\u201cThe constitution says the security and welfare of the people is the primary purpose of government. But under Tinubu, that sacred duty has been trashed.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, has berated President Bola Tinubu for remaining in France while violence and killings persist in Benue and Plateau states. In a statement released by his media office on Wednesday, Atiku stated that President Tinubu cannot keep feasting and enjoying himself while countless lives are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":13429,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-naija-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.funminews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/IMG_20250415_193405.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13430"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13430\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13431,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13430\/revisions\/13431"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}