Atiku Knocks Tinubu over Insecurity, Says Nigeria Doesn't Need Tourist-in-Chief
Advises president to step aside if he can't manage country Senate to grill service chiefs, security heads next week Presidency chastises ex-vp, insists nation's leader on top of domestic affairs Speaker urges commander-in-chief to take tough security deci
Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, yesterday, slammed President Bola Tinubu for going on a private visit to France while insecurity had taken over the country.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate in the last election, who took to his verified X account, however, asked Tinubu to step aside, if he could not handle the affairs of the country, saying Nigeria “doesn't need a tourist-in-chief” at this time.
But the Presidency has lambasted him for accusing President Tinubu of fiddling in the face of mounting security and economic challenges confronting the country, insisting the president was on top of domestic affairs.
This was as the Senate, yesterday, on resumption of plenary after a month New Year break, lamented the spate of insecurity in the country and noted that urgent actions were needed to avoid escalation.
To this end, the red chamber re-invoked its earlier resolution to summon the service chiefs and heads of security agencies in the country to find out efforts being made to address the situation and what had been hampering their works.
At the same time, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Tajudeen Abbas, has urged President Tinubu to take tough decisions to curtail the rising insecurity in the country
However, lamenting the spate of kidnapping and Banditry, which he claimed had overtaken the country, while the president was in far away France, Atiku said, "Tinubu is playing fiddle while Nigeria is drowning in the ocean of insecurity.”
According to him, "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.
"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."
Reacting, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, in a statement, described the statement by Atiku as "reckless".
Onanuga rebuked Atiku for releasing the statement some days after he heaped allegations against the president on the crude for loan deal for NNPC Limited.
He excoriated the PDP presidential candidate, saying his latest statement fell short of what was expected from an elder statesman.
"We like to believe that Alhaji Atiku is still not nursing hangover of his electoral defeat and now latches on any issue to attack President Tinubu.
"President Tinubu did not travel without informing Nigerians of his whereabouts. He announced a private visit to France and announced a return date," Onanuga said.
He added that while in France, the president had been following developments in the country, including the inauguration of the Tripartite Committee on National Minimum wage yesterday, which he said bore his imprimatur.
Onanuga said, "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."
In relation to the security situation in the country, Onanuga affirmed that government was already seeing positive results with the arrest of over 139 kidnappers in Abuja, Kaduna and Benue States in the last one week.
He said the police Special Intervention Squad (SIS) and DSS had also rescued 154 abducted persons in the last few days.
"Just last week, President Tinubu approved N50 billion 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."
He insisted that if Alhaji Atiku was really concerned about security issues and was not playing cheap politics, he should have known that Tinubu was on top of issues and working hard to restore peace to every part of the country.
He applauded the security agencies for working assiduously to bring the security situation under control, saying the president was giving them all the necessary support they required to win the battle against criminal elements and secure every inch of the country.
On its part, the Senate took the decision following a motion sponsored by the entire 109 senators and moved by the Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele.
The federal lawmakers had earlier met behind closed doors for about one and a half hours to discuss the disturbing phenomenon.
The Senate in its joint motion, noted with sadness the rising spate of killings, kidnappings, banditry, and other criminal activities in the nation.
It insisted in the resolution that the recent killings in Agatu local government area of Benue State, which led to lost of lives, including security personnel and destruction of properties as well as the brutal killings of 11 residents of Logo Local Government Area of Benue State.