Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has called for a total overhaul of Nigerian the security architecture following a tragic attack on the Government Girls Comprehensive Senior Secondary School in Maga, Kebbi State.
The call was prompted by the devastating news from Kebbi, where an assault on the school on Monday morning claimed the life of the Vice-Principal and led to the abduction of an unknown number of female students.
Atiku described himself as “devastated” by this event, which served as a grim reminder of the worsening insecurity plaguing the nation.
However, Atiku pointedly noted that the Kebbi attack is not an isolated incident, but part of a widespread pattern of violence.
He simultaneously condemned the killing of an APC chieftain, Umar Moriki, and mass abductions in Tsafe LGA of Zamfara State, where entire families, including women and children, were taken by bandits.
Labeling these acts as “barbarity” that has “no place in a civilized society,” he connected them to ongoing tragedies in Plateau, Benue, and even the flight of residents from their homes in Shanono LGA, Kano State.
This litany of violence from multiple regions underscores what Atiku termed a “national security challenge that has reached intolerable levels.”
He argued that the concurrent crises across disparate states prove that the current security strategies are failing and that a piecemeal approach is insufficient.
Stating unequivocally that “Nigeria cannot continue on that way, a
call for an overhaul is a direct response to the government’s perceived inability to protect citizens from schools in the northwest to communities in the north-central and beyond.
Beyond a general review, he urged specific actions: the deployment of adequate security personnel to vulnerable communities and the intensification of intelligence-led operations.
Atiku concluded by affirming that the fundamental rights of Nigerian citizens are “protection, dignity, and peace, nothing less,” implying that the government is currently failing to deliver on this basic obligation.
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