The presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the 2023 general election, Prince Adewole Adebayo, has accused President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of losing control of his administration amid the rising wave of insecurity across the country.
Adebayo stated this on Tuesday during an interview on Politics Today, a Channels Television program followed by the Nigerian Tribune.
He said the scale and persistence of violent crime in Nigeria suggests the government is overwhelmed or complicit.
According to him, Nigeria has the necessary tools and institutional structures to combat insecurity, but lacks the political will and honesty to implement them effectively.
“The government needs to come out and confess the truth that they are allowing this insecurity and they cannot pretend that they do not have all the necessary tools to address the insecurity.
“The first enemy of the government is the government. The first enemy of the people is the government. You cannot commit a crime and last a week or a month if there are no people from the government to cooperate with you,” he said.
The SDP leader questioned how bailout money moves freely through the system. He advised President Tinubu to urgently reorganize the security architecture.
“I can’t go to my bank manager now and tell him I want to withdraw N6 million, they won’t respond to me (calling) EFCC, money laundering.
“But people are paying millions of naira as ransom. The people who collect the ransom are not concerned about where they take the money.
“What I am letting you know is that President Tinubu, in my humble opinion, has lost control of his government and is spinning his wheels, he needs to put his hands together, organize his government and make sure that he understands that the police cover this country effectively because every local government in Nigeria has a police division,” he said.
Adebayo noted that every local government area in Nigeria already has at least one police division that should be positioned to make rapid security interventions.
He wondered why these existing assets are not being utilized to their full potential.
“There is a DPO; even in some large or highly populated local governments there is more than one police division.
“Are you telling me that in Eruku, in Isapa and all those places there is no division there? Are you saying that if there is a member of the youth body in Eruku who criticizes the APC or the government, they will not go and arrest that person?
“This is a government that could capture someone in Nairobi, Kenya, and bring them here to try and sentence them, but they can’t capture people who are out there.
“How are you going to carry hundreds of people? Have you been a kindergarten teacher before? Getting 35 kids to cooperate with you in class, is it easy? How are you going to carry 35 people?” said.
He urged President Tinubu to urgently reform the country’s security architecture, warning that the current structure is incapable of providing the rapid response needed to prevent attacks.
The SDP leader also questioned the government’s operational priorities, expressing surprise at the frequency and ease with which armed groups carry out mass kidnappings.
Adebayo called for transparency, accountability and decisive leadership, stressing that Nigerians can no longer endure the prevailing climate of fear.
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