649
By Oscar Okhifo
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has blamed the President Bola Tinubu-led government for the killing of about 170 people in Kaiama Local Government Area of Kwara State, describing the incident as evidence of a total collapse of security across the country.
The party said measures put in place by the government to address insecurity are failing, adding that the government’s approach amounts to a redistribution of terror rather than its elimination.
In a statement issued on Friday in Abuja by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the party condemned the killings and questioned the effectiveness of the President’s declaration of a state of emergency on security, as well as the promised recruitment of thousands of police officers.
According to the party, the continued occurrence of mass killings across the country suggests that the government’s security measures are either ineffective or exist only as public declarations.
The ADC also questioned whether the heightened security activities witnessed last year, following comments by the President of the United States on Nigeria’s security situation, were merely performative gestures aimed at earning international approval rather than genuine efforts to protect citizens.
The party said the scale and frequency of killings nationwide show that whatever measures the Federal Government claims to have taken are not working.
“This horrific massacre is one of the worst atrocities recorded in recent times and stands as a painful reminder of the complete collapse of security across the country,” the statement said.
It expressed condolences to the families of the victims and the people of Kwara State, noting that Nigerians continue to be abandoned to mourn their dead in a country increasingly unable to guarantee the safety of its citizens.
It further raised concerns that the attackers may be part of terrorist elements displaced by United States military action in Sokoto State during the Christmas period, who are now relocating to other states due to weak internal security coordination.
According to the party, the Tinubu administration is not winning the war against terrorism but merely shifting violence from one region to another.
It added that incidents such as mass abductions in Kaduna and mass killings in Kwara highlight deep structural failures in Nigeria’s internal security architecture, particularly in intelligence gathering, border control, inter-agency collaboration and emergency response.
It also queried the status of the President’s much-publicized declaration of a state of emergency on security announced in November 2025, asking whether it was a sincere commitment or a response to international and domestic pressure.
The party recalled that the Presidency announced a major recruitment drive into the Nigeria Police Force as part of the emergency response, reportedly approving the recruitment of tens of thousands of personnel to strengthen internal security nationwide.
“Nigerians are entitled to know what has become of that promise,” the ADC said, questioning whether the recruits have been employed, trained and deployed, or whether the process has stalled.
It argued that if the recruitment had been effectively carried out, vulnerable rural communities such as those in Kwara State would not have been left exposed to mass attacks.
The party further Criticized what it described as largely performative security responses by the Federal Government, saying the urgency displayed last year has since waned.
It argued that the administration’s actions appeared more focused on optics than on implementing sustained and effective measures to secure lives and property.
It maintained that Nigeria’s security crisis has now outgrown the competence and capacity of the Tinubu-led administration, noting that killings have become routine across the country while accountability has steadily declined.
According to the coalition platform, the Federal Government’s response has been reduced to issuing condolences and condemnations after each tragedy, rather than preventing the violence or addressing its root causes.
It called on the Federal Government to come clean on the true state of the nation’s security, account for the announced police recruitment and clearly explain how it plans to prevent the spread and relocation of terrorist groups across states.
“Nigeria cannot continue on this path of denial and inaction. Lives are not statistics, and governance is not public relations,” the party said, adding that it stands with Nigerians in demanding competent leadership, honest governance and a security strategy that protects lives rather than reacts after tragedies occur.