A single rhetorical question asked to stakeholders in Kebbi State has grown into a campaign-season fight over who owns Nigeria’s security failures, and who must answer for them.
Director-General of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council, Senator Abdulaziz Yari was addressing stakeholders on Monday when he put the question that set it off. “If Buhari, who is a retired military man, could not wipe out insecurity, what do people expect from Tinubu?” he asked.
Supporters framed the remark as a defence of President Bola Tinubu: the problem is old, deep and stubborn, and no leader could be expected to solve it quickly. The opposition heard something else entirely.
Within a day, the African Democratic Congress Presidential Campaign Council (ADC-PCC) had responded.
Its Director of Media and Publicity, Kola Ologbondiyan, called the comment a “damning indictment of the APC government” and a “startling admission from a senior figure entrusted with selling President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s re-election bid to Nigerians.” He argued that it raised basic questions about the APC’s capacity to confront insecurity and about the case for giving Tinubu another term.
“For a party that has been in power for nearly 12 years, this is a shocking admission of failure,” he said. “Rather than inspire confidence in Nigerians, the statement from the Director-General of the APC Presidential Campaign Council reinforces the growing perception that the ruling party has run out of ideas and has no credible answers to the nation’s security challenges.”
At the heart of the ADC’s reading was a claim about what Yari had really conveyed. If a former military Head of State could not defeat insecurity, Ologbondiyan said, the APC’s campaign chief appeared to be telling Nigerians there is little Tinubu can do. “This is not the language of a party offering hope; it is an expression of helplessness from a party seeking another mandate,” he said.
He added that after years of promises, Nigerians still contend with banditry, terrorism, kidnapping and what he called wanton killings. “Communities remain vulnerable, families live in fear, and citizens are increasingly worried about the safety of their lives and livelihoods,” he said.
From there, the ADC turned the remark into a question for voters.
How, Ologbondiyan asked, can the APC ask for four more years when its own campaign leadership appears to doubt the candidate’s ability to tackle insecurity?
“Why should Nigerians entrust their future to a party whose leading campaign figures appear unable to defend its record or inspire confidence in its capacity to deliver?” he said. Nigeria, in his view, needs leadership that accepts responsibility, develops practical solutions and shows the political will to protect citizens, not “a government that offers excuses for persistent insecurity.”
Having criticised the ruling party, the ADC offered its own alternative.
Ologbondiyan described Atiku Abubakar as an experienced leader with a practical vision for national security, economic recovery and national cohesion.
Defeating insecurity, he said, takes more than political rhetoric. It requires competent leadership, effective coordination among security agencies, adequate equipment, better intelligence gathering and sustained investment in the welfare and capacity of security personnel.
He urged Nigerians to treat Yari’s reported remarks as a moment for sober reflection on the APC’s record and on what another four years under the ruling party could mean.
He closed with the argument the opposition hopes will carry into the election. “If the APC cannot confidently explain how its candidate will secure the country, why should Nigerians entrust it with another four years?” he asked. Voters, he said, face a clear choice between a party “whose record on insecurity has attracted widespread criticism” and an alternative “committed to rescuing the country, restoring public confidence and making the protection of lives and property a national priority.”
The exchange shows how both sides handle the issue. Yari’s line reflects a common defence of governments everywhere: insecurity is deep-rooted, predates the current administration, and is not solved overnight. The ADC’s reply is just as familiar: a party that has governed this long cannot keep pointing backwards.
There is no response from Yari or the APC to the ADC’s statement in the source material.