Former Labour Party presidential candidate says Oyo governor told him he had not received a call from the President more than 50 days after the schoolchildren’s abduction.
The presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) for the 2027 general election, Peter Obi, has claimed that Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde told him President Bola Tinubu had not contacted him more than 50 days after the abduction of schoolchildren in the state.
Obi made the claim in a post shared on his X account on Monday, titled “Worsening Leadership Crisis in the Country Now Evident,” where he criticised the Federal Government’s handling of insecurity and accused the President Tinubu administration of failing to demonstrate the leadership and compassion needed to confront the country’s security challenges.
According to Obi, he had publicly appealed twice to the kidnappers to release the abducted pupils and also contacted Governor Makinde on two occasions to express solidarity, insisting that the incident should be viewed as a national tragedy rather than an Oyo State issue.
“The government and people of Oyo State, more than 50 days after the abduction of the schoolchildren without any tangible effort toward their rescue, should rightly feel bitter and abandoned,” Obi wrote.
The former Anambra State governor disclosed that he visited Ibadan on Friday alongside economist Prof. Pat Utomi, where they met with Governor Makinde to discuss the security situation and possible solutions.
Obi said he shared his experience in tackling insecurity during his tenure as governor of Anambra State, recalling that former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan regularly reached out to governors whenever major security incidents occurred in their states.
He claimed he was surprised when Makinde allegedly informed him that President Tinubu had not made a single phone call to him since the schoolchildren were abducted more than seven weeks ago.
“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,” Obi stated.
Drawing comparisons with the 2014 abduction of the Chibok schoolgirls, Obi noted that President Tinubu had criticised former President Goodluck Jonathan over his response to the incident.
He argued that the same standard should apply to the current administration, maintaining that the President should either improve his leadership on security or reconsider seeking another term in office.
“Today, under President Tinubu, there have been more than 13 school kidnappings, yet the President has found it difficult to call the affected state’s chief executive after more than 50 days. This is outrageous. Governance has completely collapsed under this administration,” Obi said.
He, however, insisted that his remarks were made out of patriotism and concern for the country rather than political considerations.