The presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Obi, has fiercely berated President Bola Tinubu for failing to communicate with the Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, following the mass abduction of 37 pupils and teachers in the state.
The victims were kidnapped by armed bandits during a coordinated raid on schools in the Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State on May 15, 2026.
In a scathing public statement released on Monday, July 6, 2026, titled “Worsening Leadership Crisis in the Country Now Evident,” Obi revealed that he travelled to Ibadan on Friday, July 3, alongside political economist Professor Pat Utomi to stand in solidarity with Governor Makinde.
During their two-hour meeting, Obi discovered that despite the children spending more than 50 days in captivity, President Tinubu had not made a single phone call to the state’s chief executive.
“Outrageous and uncompassionate leadership”
The former Anambra State governor expressed his profound shock at the presidency’s complete silence on the matter, labelling it a total collapse of governance and an explicit demonstration of administrative insensitivity.
Obi contrasted Tinubu’s silence with his own executive experience, noting that during his tenure as governor, former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, and Goodluck Jonathan would personally call multiple times to coordinate responses whenever major security breaches occurred.
“To my utmost shock, I discovered that, contrary to my assumption that they had been in regular communication over the matter, Governor Seyi Makinde had not received a single call from President Bola Tinubu. I cannot imagine any issue more important than the lives of our kidnapped children, their teachers, and the many other Nigerians being held captive across the country,” Peter Obi said.
Obi draws parallels to the Chibok girls incident
Turning back the clock, Obi reminded Nigerians of the historical precedent of political accountability. He recalled the 2014 Chibok schoolgirls’ abduction during the Goodluck Jonathan administration—an incident that drew massive global condemnation.
Obi pointed out that when President Jonathan took two weeks to formally contact the affected state governor at the time, Bola Tinubu—then a leading opposition figure—vocally led national protests demanding Jonathan’s immediate resignation.
According to Obi, that exact standard must now apply to Tinubu. He noted that under the current administration, Nigeria has recorded over 13 separate school kidnapping incidents, yet the presidency routinely fails to engage or support state governors during crises.
A patriotic call for resignation or electoral withdrawal
Concluding his statement, Obi asserted that his demands were born out of genuine patriotism rather than political posturing as the country looks toward the 2027 general elections.
Given the apparent lack of institutional capacity and empathy to address the country’s escalating insecurity, Obi declared that President Tinubu should either do the honourable thing and resign immediately or publicly commit to abstaining from a re-election bid
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