Dare Babalola
Former Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, on Tuesday raised alarm over the worsening security situation in the country, describing Nigeria as a “decaying nation crying for leadership” following a wave of killings and kidnappings recorded across several states within the last 48 hours.
In a statement posted on his X handle, Obi said the recent incidents in Katsina, Adamawa, Kaduna, Benue, Plateau and Kogi states reflected what he called a grave failure of leadership and governance.
“What we have witnessed across our country in just the past 48 hours is not only tragic, it is utterly unacceptable and a damning indictment of our collective failure of leadership,” he stated.
The former Anambra State governor listed the reported killing of 11 persons in Katsina, seven in Benue and 23 in Adamawa within one day, alongside the murder of an entire family in Plateau State.
He also cited the abduction of 24 children from an orphanage in Kogi State and 10 others in Kaduna State.
“These are not mere statistics; they are our fellow Nigerians, fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, whose lives have been brutally cut short or violently disrupted,” Obi said.
He lamented that insecurity had become normalised in the country, warning that no nation could make progress amid persistent violence and fear among citizens.
“A nation cannot develop under the weight of such persistent insecurity and human tragedy. The normalisation of these horrors is itself a crisis. We must ask, with all sense of urgency and responsibility: where is the leadership?” he queried.
Obi also expressed sympathy with families affected by the attacks and kidnappings, praying for comfort for those who lost loved ones and the safe return of abducted children.
He added that the vision of a better country must now move beyond rhetoric, declaring, “A New Nigeria is not just a slogan; it has become an urgent necessity.”
