By Omeiza Ajayi, ABUJA
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has described the death of former House of Representatives member Hon. Abba Anas Adamu in the hands of bandits as a “damning indictment” of the Tinubu administration, saying it exposes the government’s failure to protect lives.
“His death is yet another grim reminder of the worsening collapse of security under the Tinubu administration,” Atiku said in a statement issued through his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, on Tuesday.
Adamu was reportedly abducted by bandits along the Kaduna-Abuja highway on May 3, 2026, and died in captivity nine days later on Tuesday, May 12, despite desperate efforts by his family to secure his release.
Describing the killing as not merely a personal tragedy but a national indictment, Atiku said: “Let us be brutally honest: Nigeria is under siege, and the Tinubu administration appears either overwhelmed, indifferent, or dangerously incompetent in the face of this national emergency.”
He posed a pointed question about the implications of the killing for ordinary Nigerians: “When a former member of the National Assembly can be abducted on one of the country’s most strategic highways and die in captivity, what hope remains for the ordinary Nigerian who lacks visibility, influence, or protection?”
The former vice president said insecurity under the current administration had crossed from crisis into routine. “Citizens now travel with prayers instead of protection. Families sleep with one eye open. Businesses are shutting down, farmers are abandoning their land, and entire communities are being surrendered to criminals,” he said.
Atiku singled out the Abuja-Kaduna corridor as a persistent flashpoint, saying the route had remained a “notorious theatre of terror” despite repeated government promises, security budgets running into trillions of naira, and what he called “endless propaganda about progress”.
He demanded accountability from the federal government, asking, “What exactly is the security strategy of this administration? Where is the urgency? Where is the accountability? How many more deaths must be recorded before this government realises that press releases do not defeat bandits?
“A government that cannot secure its highways cannot claim to govern. A government that watches citizens get hunted like prey has failed the most elementary test of leadership,” he added.
Atiku said the moment called for action, not condolences. “What Nigerians need is not another hollow condolence message. They need decisive leadership, coherent action, and measurable results,” he said, urging the federal government to treat the nation’s security situation as the emergency it is.
He extended condolences to the family of the deceased, the people of Jigawa State, and all Nigerians bearing the consequences of what he described as a deepening security collapse.
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