Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has criticised President Bola Tinubu, saying he failed to fulfil a key security promise made to Nigerians less than 24 hours.
In a post on X on Monday, Obi said the President’s assurance that recent attacks would not recur was quickly undermined by fresh violence in Plateau State.
He stated that less than a day after Tinubu addressed citizens at the Jos airport on April 2, 2026, another attack occurred in Nyamgo Gyel, Jos South Local Government Area, leading to the deaths of several residents.
Obi added that within a week of the President’s assurance, further violence spread to Nasarawa State, where communities were attacked, leaving multiple casualties, destroyed homes, and several people missing.
He also cited a mass abduction in Zamfara State involving about 150 residents, alongside an attack in Borno State where security operatives were killed and properties destroyed.
The former Governor of Anambra State further referenced renewed violence in Benue State on Easter Sunday, with more than 17 people killed, as well as attacks in Kaduna State, where worshippers were reportedly killed and others abducted.
Obi described the situation as a failure of leadership, arguing that the continued attacks across several states showed that the government was not meeting its responsibility to protect lives and property.
He said the persistence of such incidents indicated that perpetrators were being emboldened, stressing that the country was facing a deepening security crisis.
Obi warned that Nigeria was in a state of emergency, noting that the scale and frequency of the attacks reflected a worsening and increasingly helpless situation.
He wrote: “‘This Experience Will Not Repeat Itself’ – Another Presidential Promise fails in less than 24 hours.
“Less than 24 hours after President Tinubu stood at the Jos Plateau State airport on April 2, 2026, and promised the grieving Nigerian citizens, ‘I promise you that this experience will not repeat itself,’ another brutal attack occurred in Nyamgo Gyel, Jos South LGA, resulting in the deaths of several innocent citizens.
“Since then, and only a week following that reassuring promise from the President, Nasarawa State has been plunged into grief as the Akyawa and Udege Kasa communities fled for their lives after gunmen killed at least 11 people. Many homes were reduced to ashes, and numerous families remain missing.
“In Zamfara State, 150 innocent Nigerians were abducted from the Kurfa Danya and Kurfan Magaji communities in one of the largest mass kidnappings in recent times. On the same day of the Zamfara kidnappings, terrorists in Borno State stormed Chibok, killing four officers and burning down homes.
“Yesterday, on Easter Sunday, Benue State was rocked by violence again, with over 17 Nigerians massacred, entire communities left in ruins, and many individuals still unaccounted for. Today, in Kaduna State, several innocent citizens were killed by terrorists inside churches, with many others abducted in the Ariko community of Kachia LGA.
“Yet we were told, ‘This experience will not repeat itself.’ This represents a failure of leadership and responsibility, and sadly, Nigerians are paying for it with their lives.
“These attackers are not ghostly figures; our inaction emboldens them. How can a President make such a categorical promise and, mere hours later, the nation continues to count the dead across multiple states? The primary responsibility of any government is to protect lives and property; however, this responsibility is failing today. Nigerians are being slaughtered in their homes, in their communities, and in the very places they should feel safest. Even the President did not enter these communities, so who is truly safe in Nigeria?
“This is a national emergency. Nigeria is bleeding, and the situation is worsening and increasingly helpless.”