Atiku Abubakar, ex-Vice President of Nigeria has tackled President Bola Tinubu over the country’s security situation, particularly the recurrent kidnappings across the nation.
Atiku, who contested against Tinubu during the 2023 presidential election, asked the President to step aside if he can’t handle the worsening insecurity in the country.
The former vice president said despite rising cases of insecurity, the President could muster the courage to leave the country and proceeded on a private visit to France.
Atiku said the country does not need another “Tourist-in-Chief”.
Tinubu had last week Wednesday departed Abuja for Paris, France, for a private visit.
His special adviser on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, revealed this in a statement titled ‘President Tinubu travels to France.’
Although the statement did not state the reasons for the visit, Ngelale said, “He will return to the country in the first week of February 2024.”
The visit was the President’s third to France since he assumed office eight months ago.
The Peoples Democratic Party and the Labour Party and Labour Party had also demanded an explanation of what the Presidency described as a private visit.
The PDP Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Ibrahim Abdullahi, stated that the insecurity and the state of the nation’s economy made it the worst time for Tinubu to embark on a foreign trip.
This was as the spokesman for the LP 2023 Presidential Campaign Council, Yunusa Tanko, alleged that there was a hidden agenda for the trip and mentioned that the President was sick.
But reacting to the visit and pocket of kidnappings in Nigeria, Atiku said the country needs an active leader to confront insecurity.
“Tinubu is playing fiddle while Nigeria is drowning in the ocean of insecurity. To imagine that the Commander-in-Chief is on a so-called private visit while kidnappers kill a nursing mother and grandmother in Abuja for failing to pay N90m ransom and two monarchs in Ekiti, among other regular tragedies besetting Nigerians.
“If the shoes are too big for Emilokan, he should step aside. Nigeria does not need another Tourist-in-Chief. The country needs 24/7 leadership to confront the pervasive insecurity and collapsing economy,” Atiku said in a post on his X account on Tuesday.
