- By Halimah Olamide
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in spite of being outside Nigeria, is on top of the security and other domestic challenges facing the country.
This was the statement by the Presidency on Tuesday while responding to former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, who alleged that Tinubu is fiddling while Nigeria burns.
NPO Reported on Tuesday that Atiku had blasted Tinubu for appearing unconcerned by the very many security challenges ranging from upsurge in kidnappings and killings in different parts of the country.
Atiku had said, “Tinubu is playing fiddle while Nigeria is drowning in the ocean of insecurity. To imagine that the Commander-in-Chief is on a so-called private visit while kidnappers kill a nursing mother and grandmother in Abuja for failing to pay N90m ransom and two monarchs in Ekiti, among other regular tragedies besetting Nigerians.”
Saying that Nigeria does not need a president that will be junketing across the world, Atiku said “If the shoes are too big for Emilokan, he should step aside. Nigeria does not need another Tourist-in-Chief. The country needs 24/7 leadership to confront the pervasive insecurity and collapsing economy.”
But responding, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, in a statement, said Atiku is still suffering from the hangover of his defeat in which Tinubu emerged the winner last year.
“Coming days after he made an equally reckless allegation against the President on the crude for loan deal for NNPC Limited, his latest statement fell short of what is expected from an elder statesman,” Onanuga stated
Onanuga said the President did not travel without informing Nigerians of his whereabouts adding that while in France, President Tinubu has been following developments at home and he is on top of the situation in the country.
“Today’s inauguration of the Tripartite Committee on National Minimum wage bore his imprimatur . He is in constant touch with his officials and security chiefs and has directed them to stamp out every form of criminality in the country.
“He has particularly ordered them to apprehend those criminals responsible for the murder of two monarchs in Ekiti State and the kidnapping of some pupils in the state. We are already seeing results with the arrest of over 139 kidnappers around Abuja, Kaduna and Benue States in the last one week.
“The police Special Intervention Squad (SIS) and DSS have also rescued 154 abducted persons in the last few days. Just last week President Tinubu approved N50billion as Special Fund to address some of the lingering security challenges in North East where Alhaji Atiku hails from.
“To cope with the kidnapping challenges in the FCT, President Tinubu also approved funds for the acquisition of equipment to track criminals. If Alhaji Atiku is really concerned about security issues and not playing cheap politics, he should have known that President Tinubu is on top of issues and working hard to restore peace to every part of our country.”
He said the security agencies are working very hard to bring the security situation under control adding “President Tinubu is giving them all the necessary support they need to win the battle against criminal elements and secure every inch of our country.”
Atiku’s statement came amidst growing tension over kidnapping in different parts of the country. Just on Monday, kidnappers abducted school children returning while at another location, killed two traditional rulers while another one escaped from being kidnapped.