Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has condemned the recent abduction of schoolchildren and teachers in Ogbomoso, Oyo State, alongside the killings reported in Katsina State, describing the incidents as proof of what he called a collapse of leadership under President Bola Tinubu’s administration.

Atiku made the remarks in a statement issued on Tuesday through his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu.

The former vice president expressed sadness over the reported killing of one of the abducted teachers during the Ogbomoso attack and warned that worsening insecurity across Nigeria had exposed serious weaknesses in the country’s security structure.

“At a time when armed criminals are abducting schoolchildren, slaughtering innocent citizens, and turning communities into graveyards, President Tinubu’s response remains the same tired ritual: condemn the killings, threaten that the perpetrators will face the ‘full wrath of the law,’ and then wait for the next massacre,” the statement read.

“Nigerians have heard this script too many times. It has become painfully predictable and utterly meaningless.”

He criticised what he described as repeated official reactions without concrete action to stop attacks across the country.

“President Tinubu must stop governing by obituary statements.

“Enough of the recycled outrage. Enough of the empty threats. Nigerians are dying, and this government keeps responding with press releases,” he said.

Atiku stated that recurring attacks on schools and communities had emboldened criminal groups who now operate without fear of the state.

“A President who only finds his voice after blood has been spilt is not leading but presiding over failure,” he added.

“The horrifying abduction in Ogbomoso and the gruesome killings in Katsina are not isolated incidents. They are part of a grim national pattern in which criminals operate with terrifying confidence because they no longer fear the Nigerian state.”

He argued that the continued attacks reflected a breakdown of state authority.

“When terrorists can invade schools, abduct children and teachers, butcher pregnant women, sack entire communities, and disappear without consequence, it is because the authority of the state has collapsed,” he stated.

Nigeria has witnessed repeated cases of kidnappings, bandit attacks, and killings in recent years, particularly across the North-West and North-Central regions, despite government assurances that security agencies are making progress against criminal groups.

The recent Ogbomoso school abduction has renewed concerns about the safety of schools, recalling previous mass kidnappings in states including Kaduna, Zamfara, and Niger.

Atiku also criticised what he described as attempts to suppress images and evidence of violent attacks from public view.

“Even more disturbing are reports suggesting deliberate attempts to suppress images and documentation of these atrocities from reaching the Nigerian public,” he said.

“If this government is indeed more interested in censoring evidence of mass killings than in preventing the killings themselves, then that is not merely incompetence, it is cruelty of the highest order.”

He further argued that any government unable to protect citizens while allegedly trying to control narratives surrounding attacks had failed morally and politically.

“A government that cannot protect the living but seeks to censor evidence of their deaths has lost every moral right to govern,” Atiku said.

“This is no longer just a security failure. It is a moral failure. A leadership failure. A national disgrace.”

The former vice president called for the immediate rescue of all abducted victims in Oyo State, improved security operations in vulnerable communities, and a comprehensive reform of Nigeria’s security architecture.