By Luminous Jannamike
ABUJA—African Democratic Congress, ADC, has criticised President Bola Tinubu’s administration for seeking a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council when banditry and violent attacks continue to claim lives across Nigeria.
In a statement signed by the National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the party argued that Nigeria should not ask for expanded global responsibilities while persistently failing to fulfill its most basic obligation of protecting citizens’ lives and property.
“The ADC finds it absurd that the Tinubu administration could be requesting a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council, even as bandits slaughter Nigerians at home and take control of some of the nation’s territories,” Abdullahi said.
The party cited recent killings in Zamfara and Katsina states, including an attack on worshippers in a mosque in Yandoto village, Zamfara, where several people were killed and abducted.
It recalled that more than 140 people had been murdered in both states in the past two months, with Amnesty International reporting over 10,000 lives lost nationwide to armed groups as of May 2025.
“These are not numbers, they were human beings, they were Nigerians that this administration had promised renewed hope,” the party said.
ADC also raised the alarm over the activities of armed gangs in Zamfara, alleging that they extorted more than N56 million from farmers as a precondition to access their farmlands.
“Indeed, with the level of brigandage going on in that state, we are compelled to ask whether Zamfara is still part of Nigeria. Because when non-state actors collect taxes, control access to farms, and kill with impunity, they are no longer mere criminals, they are a parallel government,” the party declared.
According to ADC, the crisis now threatens Nigeria’s territorial integrity, with the government appearing either unperturbed or incapable of restoring security.
“The issue at hand is, therefore, no longer about insecurity alone, it is about the territorial integrity of Nigeria being wilfully subverted under President Bola Tinubu.
‘’What is happening is not a mere failure of security. It is clear evidence, written in blood and piles of innocent bodies, of a government that has lost control,” the party stated.
Beyond insecurity, ADC faulted President Tinubu for his absence from the passing-out parade and commissioning of 874 officers at the Nigerian Defence Academy, NDA, in Kaduna last Saturday, noting that he also missed the event in 2024.
It stated: “With the dire security situation in the country, we would have expected the President to seize the occasion to inspire and charge the new officers to give their best in protecting the country and its people.’’
Instead, the party noted, President Tinubu travelled to Lagos to attend the commissioning of the renovated National Arts Theatre, an action it described as evidence of misplaced priorities.
“What all this signals is that this administration is plagued by misplaced priorities. The President has become a passive spectator, watching from a safe distance, while villages burn and prayers end in gunfire,” Abdullahi said.
The party called for the immediate declaration of a state of emergency in Zamfara State, stressing that the government must act urgently to end the bloodshed.
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