Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has criticised the Federal Government over the release of abducted schoolgirls in Kebbi State, insisting that their rescue should not be portrayed as a government achievement but as further evidence of Nigeria’s deepening security crisis. In a statement released by his media team on Wednesday, Atiku argued that the return of the schoolchildren only highlights how brazen criminal groups have become under the current administration.
According to the former presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the incident serves as “a damning reminder that terrorists now operate freely, negotiate openly, and dictate terms while this administration issues press statements to save face.” He maintained that rejoicing over the girls’ return ignores the critical failure that led to their abduction in the first place.
Atiku’s comments were in response to remarks made by the Presidential Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, who during an interview on Arise News TV on Monday credited the rescue to coordinated operations by the Department of State Services (DSS) and the military. Onanuga had claimed that the security agencies tracked the movements of the kidnappers and made contact with them to secure the girls’ release without paying ransom.
But Atiku rejected the narrative entirely, arguing that it raises more questions than answers. He insisted that the purported intelligence and monitoring capabilities cited by Onanuga expose the government’s inability—or unwillingness—to decisively confront armed groups who continue to terrorise communities with impunity.
Onanuga had justified the cautious approach taken by security forces by pointing to the presence of civilians living in the areas where the bandits operate. He said military action needed to be restrained to avoid unintended harm to innocent residents caught in the same environment as the criminals.
“We must be extremely careful,” Onanuga explained. “Our people live around these areas. You can’t just go in. Security forces have to ensure they don’t bomb innocent Nigerians while pursuing these bandits.” He argued that this reality complicates direct engagement and can limit options available to security agencies.
However, Atiku dismissed the explanation as “a shameful effort to polish over a national disaster and disguise government failure as some form of achievement.” He demanded clarity on why, if the DSS and military were truly monitoring the kidnappers in real time and were in contact with them, no arrests or neutralisation of the criminals took place during the rescue operation.
He questioned why the government is celebrating what he described as “routine communication with terrorists,” asking why abductors who were tracked and contacted could not be apprehended or prevented from returning to the forests to stage fresh attacks. He argued that such explanations portray the kidnappers as operating like an “alternative government,” freely negotiating, collecting ransom, and escaping unchallenged.
Atiku insisted that no responsible nation applauds itself for negotiating with criminals when it claims to possess actionable intelligence. The situation, he said, underscores how deeply insecurity has deteriorated and why the government must prioritise prevention rather than celebrating outcomes that merely return abducted victims while leaving armed groups untouched and emboldened.
He maintained that the true measure of success is the ability to stop kidnappings from occurring, not the fanfare that follows when abductees are released.
