- Former Vice President and ADC presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has accused the Tinubu-led administration of abandoning education and allowing rampant insecurity to destroy the nation’s future.
- The criticism follows the violent abduction of students, a school principal, and a NECO ad-hoc official at Government Secondary School, Odo-Ekina, during an active public examination.
- Atiku claimed the administration’s policies deliver a “double assault” on families by making public exams unaffordable while failing to protect learning environments.
Former Vice President and presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has heavily criticized the President Bola Tinubu-led federal government following the recent kidnapping of students, a school principal, and a National Examinations Council (NECO) official in Kogi State.
Eko Hot Blog reports that Atiku stated that the latest abduction is clear evidence that the federal government has abandoned the education sector and allowed insecurity to ravage Nigeria’s future prospects.
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The incident occurred at Government Secondary School, Odo-Ekina, where armed men stormed the premises and abducted the school’s principal, an ad-hoc NECO official, and students who were actively sitting for their Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (SSCE).
In a press release issued on Wednesday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, the former vice president described the development as a tragic and disgraceful failure of the state’s basic constitutional duty to secure lives and learning institutions.
Atiku argued that the security breakdown in Kogi is part of a dangerous, ongoing pattern of coordinated school raids across the country.
He warned that schools are now considered soft, easy targets by criminal elements because the state has failed to project a strong deterrent or maintain control over its territories. He linked this vulnerability directly to what he termed the Tinubu administration’s overall neglect of public education.
He pointed out that the administration has consistently made education more difficult for ordinary Nigerians to access by raising registration and public examination fees for WAEC and NECO.
According to him, combining economic barriers with physical danger amounts to a complete betrayal of Nigerian children.
The ADC presidential candidate also hit out at the federal government’s current budgetary allocations, claiming public funds are frequently diverted to superficial projects with minimal benefit to the citizens while critical sectors like education and defense remain chronically underfunded.
He cautioned that continued passivity from the state will only embolden armed groups to carry out larger operations.
Calling for the immediate, unconditional rescue of all the abducted students and staff, Atiku urged the federal government to run a comprehensive, urgent security audit of all educational centers and examination venues across the country.
He noted that the history of this administration would not be written by its press statements, but by whether it actively saved or abandoned the children of Nigeria.
