By Frontline Reporters

The Presidency and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar have traded accusations over Nigeria’s worsening security situation, with Atiku describing the reported killing of 5,091 Nigerians in three months as a damning indictment of President Bola Tinubu’s administration, while the Presidency countered that security agencies had killed thousands of terrorists and rescued more than 10,000 Nigerians within the same period.

Atiku, the 2027 presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, said the death toll exposed the government’s failure to discharge its fundamental constitutional responsibility of protecting lives and property. He also linked the insecurity to what he described as fiscal indiscipline, wasteful spending and poor implementation of appropriated funds for national security.

In a statement issued on Sunday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku said every death represented a shattered family and a community living in fear. He argued that improved salaries for military personnel, while welcome, would not by themselves address the challenges facing the Armed Forces, which also require adequate equipment, operational funding, timely allowances and improved welfare.

“Today, we have 5,091 reported killings in just three months, 5,091 shattered families, 5,091 indictments of this administration’s security failures, and ultimately, 5,091 reasons this government must go,” Atiku said. He urged the Federal Government to cut waste, eliminate questionable expenditure and channel more resources into defence and citizen protection.

But the Presidency dismissed Atiku’s assessment, accusing him of deliberately ignoring the gains recorded by the nation’s security agencies. The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Temitope Ajayi, said official figures showed that between 13,000 and 20,000 terrorists had been killed in the last three months, while at least 10,000 Nigerians had been rescued from kidnappers, bandits and insurgents.

Ajayi said the government’s recent security operations demonstrated that the military, police and Department of State Services were not only rescuing abducted Nigerians but also eliminating terrorists, arresting suspects and disrupting the networks of their financiers, informants and logistics suppliers. He cited the recent rescue of 308 Nigerians abducted in Kwara and Niger states as evidence of the ongoing offensive.

The presidential aide accused Atiku of pursuing what he called “a politics of despair” by focusing exclusively on the number of people killed while ignoring those rescued. He also questioned the former Vice President’s conduct as a statesman, saying his criticism of the administration should be guided by a broader concern for the country rather than electoral considerations.

Ajayi further predicted that Tinubu would win the 2027 presidential election, arguing that the administration was making progress in the fight against insecurity, insurgency and other threats to national stability. He said Nigerians would reject Atiku again despite what he described as the opposition politician’s “campaign of calumny.”

The Nigeria Police Force also challenged Atiku’s assessment of the security situation. Force spokesperson Ani Iniedu said available security intelligence indicated that violent crime had declined significantly in the past six months. He said publicly available security analytics supported the position that the overall trend was one of improvement, rather than deterioration.

The Federal Government has in recent months highlighted a number of security successes, including the rescue of schoolchildren and teachers in Oyo State after 56 days in captivity, as well as the coordinated rescue of 308 Nigerians abducted in Kwara and Niger states. President Tinubu, while welcoming the operations, directed security agencies to strengthen early-warning systems and community-based intelligence gathering to prevent future mass abductions.

The renewed war of words comes as the political atmosphere ahead of the 2027 elections intensifies. Atiku, who lost the 2023 presidential election to Tinubu, has remained a vocal critic of the administration’s security and economic policies, while the Presidency has consistently defended its record and portrayed the opposition’s criticism as politically motivated.

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