The Northern Ethnic Youth Group Assembly, NEYGA, has criticised Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi over what it described as the politicisation of Nigeria’s security challenges.
The group urged both politicians to emulate opposition figures in countries such as the United States and Israel, who, according to it, set aside political interests and supported their governments during major security crises, including the September 11 attacks in the US and the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel.
NEYGA was reacting to comments made by Atiku and Obi following recent attacks by gunmen on schools in Oyo and Borno states, which led to the abduction of several pupils.
In his reaction, Obi accused the Tinubu administration of lacking the capacity to protect schoolchildren, describing them as “pawns in a ransom economy.”
Atiku, on his part, said the worsening insecurity had made a mockery of the government’s Safe Schools initiative. He added that President Bola Tinubu had “no moral or political latitude to stay in Aso Villa a day longer if tens of hundreds of abducted citizens languish in captivity across the country,” stressing that the primary responsibility of government is the security and welfare of the people.
However, NEYGA said it was wrong, unethical and unpatriotic for both politicians to use the plight of innocent schoolchildren as a campaign tool, insisting that they were among those who contributed to the insecurity now facing the country.
The group’s position was contained in a statement signed by its spokesperson, Alhaji Ibrahim Dan-Musa.
“We are disappointed that men who have held high political offices, and who are aspiring to preside over Nigeria, would resort to using the plight of children, especially those in distress, to score cheap political points,” the statement said.
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NEYGA added that the remarks by Atiku and Obi appeared to support President Tinubu’s earlier claim that some individuals were trying to use insecurity to push him out of the 2027 presidential race.
According to the group, if the administration in which Atiku served as Vice President had moved early enough to contain Boko Haram founder Mohammed Yusuf and address the growing number of out-of-school children, Nigeria might not have found itself in its current security situation.
On Obi, the group alleged that he served as a key adviser in an administration that failed to confront terrorism decisively. It further claimed that the government he served under allowed terrorists to realise that kidnapping schoolchildren could become a profitable venture.
NEYGA advised both politicians to study how opposition leaders in other countries conduct themselves during periods of national insecurity, noting that they usually rally support for the government in power.
Citing examples, the group said that after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States, which killed at least 2,977 people, Americans united against terrorism rather than turning the tragedy into a partisan issue.
It also referenced the 1972 Munich Olympics attack, in which members of the Black September group killed 11 Israeli athletes, saying political actors in Israel rallied behind Prime Minister Golda Meir instead of attacking her administration.
NEYGA further pointed to the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, in which about 1,200 people were killed and around 240 taken hostage, arguing that no Israeli politician called for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s resignation at the time, but instead supported the government’s response.
The group also cited the 2013 Westgate shopping mall attack in Nairobi, Kenya, where 67 people were killed, saying Kenyan politicians stood behind President Uhuru Kenyatta rather than politicising the tragedy.
“We find it strange and amusing that Atiku Abubakar, under whose vice presidency Mohammed Yusuf, the founder of Boko Haram, flourished, will be talking of insecurity in Nigeria as if he and his boss did not nurture this Frankenstein monster,” the statement said.
It added that Obi, whom it described as part of an administration that lacked the courage to fight insecurity, should be more circumspect in his comments on the issue.
Earlier, Obi had lamented the worsening insecurity, saying: “There is nothing more heartbreaking for a nation than an inability to protect its children. The recent attacks and kidnappings of students from two schools in Mussa Village, Askira/Uba LGA, Borno State, and Ahoro-Esinele community in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State mark a grave crisis that threatens the future of the nation.”
Atiku, in a statement issued by his media office on Thursday, said no fewer than 42 schoolchildren were kidnapped on May 15 during terrorist attacks on Government Day Secondary School, Mussa Central Primary School, and SUBEB Secondary School in Mussa town, Askira-Uba Local Government Area of Borno State.
He added that more than 40 students and teachers were also abducted the same day from Community High School, Ahoro-Esinele; Primary School, Esinele; and Yawota Baptist Nursery and Primary School, all in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State.
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