By PETER ANOSIKE

With the growing number of states that have closed schools over rising insecurity as well as the recent mass abductions of students in various parts of the country, an African Democratic Congress (ADC) chieftain, Nelson Ahamefula Akuma, has said it is now very clear that President Bola Tinubu has lost control of leadership of the country.

Recall that the governments of Bauchi, Plateau, Katsina, Taraba, Adamawa, and Niger states have ordered the immediate closure of all schools, citing urgent need for preventive action.

In the same vein, the Federal Government, through the Director of Senior Secondary Education at the Federal Ministry of Education, Binta Abdulkadir, directed the shutting down all 41 Unity Schools in the country with immediate effect over growing spate of abductions.

Akuma said that by ordering the closure of schools, Tinubu’s government has shown that it cannot protect the lives and properties of the citizens.

He said with the abduction of 315 students from St Mary’s private primary and secondary schools, Papiri, in Niger State, which is the highest in the world, President Tinubu’s name has now entered the Guinness Book of Records as the president who the biggest number of students was abducted in one swoop under his watch.

According to him, instead of accepting responsibility and looking for ways to salvage the worsening insecurity, the Federal Government is trying to defend the indefensible.

He said that instead of being on the defence, Tinubu should take action against the terrorists who are destroying lives and properties in the country.

Speaking further, Akuma said that Nigerian governments are closing down schools because of the fear of terrorists is a very big low for the citizens, adding that we deserve far better.

Hear him: “Just look at this. On November 17, 2025, armed men breached the fence of Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School in Maga, Kebbi State, killed the vice principal, and abducted 25 schoolgirls. On Friday November 21, gunmen stormed St. Mary’s Papiri Private Catholic Secondary School in the Papiri community of Agwara Local Government Area, Niger State and abducted 315 students. Local sources said the gunmen arrived at the school between 3 and 4 a.m. in large numbers, riding on over 60 motorcycles and accompanied by a van, and shot the school’s gatekeeper, leaving him with serious injuries. Few days before that gunmen attacked the Christ Apostolic Church (CAC), Oke-Isegun in Eruku, Kwara State, killing three people and abducting 38 worshippers. We now heard that the worshippers have regained freedom. All that happened within a week. Does that not show we are living in a banana republic? Even Bayo Ononuga told Nigerians in particular and the world in general that DSS just put a call to the bandits and they released all the worshippers. Which means DSS and government know the numbers and contacts of the bandits but instead of being proactive, they are being reactionary because abduction is now a sport in Nigeria. You allow them to first abduct, then you call them to release. What a shame!”

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