With nearly 200 people killed on Wednesday by Islamic terrorists in separate attacks in remote villages in central and northern Nigeria, the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has asked President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to suspend all his scheduled foreign trips in 2026 to enable his government focus on waging relentless counterterrorism campaigns and defeat the terrorists.

The group in a statement issued on Friday and signed by the National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Nnadozie Onwubiko, expressed shock that, “Even when 200 citizens were killed by Islamists, there hasn’t been any administrative sanctions imposed on the heads of the security institutions based in Kwara State that committed the spectacular security and intelligence blunders that allowed for the callous slaughtering of Nigerians by Islamic terrorists.”

HURIWA further stated that the president is heavily distracted by the politics of 2027 poll. The rights group also blamed the ruling the All Progressives Congress (APC) “for putting on the front burner, the re-election of the incumbent president rather than letting president Tinubu to concentrate and pay attention to achieving holistic and positive results in the counterterrorism campaigns.”

“It is unfortunate that the APC supported by the President has already started campaigns for the 2027 poll 8n clear violation of the extant electoral law even as serving political office holders of other parties are cajoled, blackmailed and compelled due to the fear of EFCC’S prosecution, to defect to the president’s political party and to even kick-start campaigns for the re-election of President Tinubu,” HURIWA said.

The a pro-democracy and civil rights advocacy group said that it is inexplicably shocking that President Tinubu spent 22 days outside of the shores of Nigeria in January 2026 and had travelled across the globe last year just as the bilateral agreements he signed during his foreign tours have had little or no benefits economically to millions of heavily impoverished citizens even with thousands of Nigerians killed by terrorists.

“The killings,” according to HURIWA, “show a fundamental failure of governance and the failure of the president to keep to his legal obligation of protecting lives and property of the citizens which is the primary constitutional duty of government. We do think too that governors who lack what it takes to partner with the security forces to protect their people should throw in the towel. The Kwara State Governor has indeed failed in his constitutional duty to Kwara people.”

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