Adebayo Accuses Tinubu of Enabling Insecurity, Losing Control of Government

 

Former 2023 presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Prince Adewole Adebayo, has launched a scathing condemnation of President Bola Tinubu’s administration, claiming that the government is deliberately enabling the country’s worsening insecurity and has long since lost control over state affairs.

Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Tuesday, Adebayo said that despite the federal government possessing the tools needed to track, apprehend and prosecute kidnappers and criminals, those resources are not being deployed. He argued that the various explanations offered by government officials — sabotage, political orchestration, or foreign interference — all point to one undeniable fact: “the administration has failed.”

“The motive of criminals becomes irrelevant when the government lacks either the capacity or the will to stop them,” Adebayo declared. He noted that Nigeria’s security architecture is capable of intercepting kidnappers if properly utilized, pointing out the irony that authorities can track minor financial transactions or SIM‑card registrations — yet kidnappers continue to operate freely and make ransom communications without hindrance.

He said: “I cannot send ₦5,000 to my wife without security agencies knowing. You cannot buy a SIM card without your BVN and NIN. So why are kidnappers communicating freely? The only explanation is that the government is enabling this insecurity.”

Adebayo also dismissed claims that the security failures result from manpower shortages. Instead, he described the real problem as a mix of ineffectiveness and lack of leadership from the top. “This is a government that could capture somebody in Nairobi, Kenya, bring him here for trial and sentence him,” he observed — a likely reference to the extradition of a high-profile figure. “But they cannot catch people roaming around with abducted victims.”

He criticized the tendency of the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) to travel to crisis zones, describing it as symptomatic of poor command structure and episodic governance. According to Adebayo, security commanders should be giving instructions from their duty posts — not “campaigning around the country.”

Advising President Tinubu to stop “communicating failure,” Adebayo urged him to emulate past leaders who insisted on immediate results from security chiefs. He said: “The President needs to call in the armed forces, deal with terrorists and kidnappers once and for all. And when kidnappings continue, he needs to call the IGP and say: ‘If I hear of one more abduction, you’re gone.’”

The former SDP flagbearer further accused the government of prioritising international trips and political strategising over domestic security. He suggested that only after foreign pressure — notably comments by U.S. President Donald Trump — did the administration begin to show concern over the deteriorating security situation.

Adebayo also lambasted what he described as an administrative oversight: President Tinubu’s delay in appointing ambassadors to key countries — a move he said undermines Nigeria’s international standing.

“Let’s spell out the core of Nigeria’s problem: T‑I‑N‑U‑B‑U. Tinubu is the problem,” he insisted. “He has concentrated all powers in himself and is playing with them. He’s brilliant — but like many brilliant people, brilliant can also mean lazy or indifferent if not applied seriously. The president has behaved like an emperor.”

According to Adebayo, state institutions continue to underperform because governors are treated as political assets, not partners in security management. He added that Tinubu reportedly does not convene regular security meetings with governors to review what is happening in their states.

Despite government’s capacity, Adebayo concluded, communities across Nigeria continue to suffer from kidnappers, one‑chance syndicates, and widespread violence. “We can secure ourselves,” he said. “We’ve just got the wrong government.”