Tinubu’s Greatest Failure: Insecurity Has Made Nigeria a Killing Field.

By George Omagbemi Sylvester | Published by SaharaWeeklyNG.com

In a nation where blood flows more freely than clean water and the average citizen sleeps with one eye open, the conversation about Nigeria’s survival has shifted from economic growth and job creation to the fundamental right to life. Security is not just a policy issue; it is the very foundation of governance. Sadly, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has utterly failed in this most sacred duty.

There is no peace in the Northeast. There is no safety in the Northwest. Blood flows in the North-Central. The South-South is bleeding from oil theft and continous violence. The Southeast is under siege from unknown gunmen and militarization. The Southwest (Tinubu’s own region) isn’t exempt either with kidnapping and violent crimes now part of daily life. Who exactly is safe in Nigeria today?

Let’s be clear: nothing is more important than the protection of lives and properties. Even the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) is clear in Section 14(2)(b): “The security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government.” If the government cannot protect its people, then that government has failed. And President Tinubu, despite his flowing agbada and grand political image as “Jagaban,” has failed woefully.

“Na Who Dey Alive Dey Chop”
A popular Nigerian phrase that captures this sentiment is: “Na who dey alive dey chop.” You can’t talk about inflation, minimum wage, education or infrastructure when you’re constantly looking over your shoulder, wondering if you’ll be the next victim of kidnapping or mass murder. Insecurity has destroyed markets, closed schools and emptied farmlands. Farmers in Zamfara, Borno, Plateau and Benue can no longer go to their farms. The roads between Kaduna and Abuja are death traps. The forests from Ondo to Enugu are controlled by bandits. Nowhere is safe.

How can a government that cannot protect lives talk about attracting foreign investment? What investor would risk their capital in a country where entire communities are wiped out overnight? And yet, this administration keeps spinning illusions about economic recovery while citizens are slaughtered like animals.

Defenders of the Indefensible
Some political loyalists and sycophants continue to defend Tinubu using logic that insults common sense. They tell us to be patient. They say insecurity didn’t start with Tinubu, but did he not campaign with the promise to restore security? Did he not swear to protect every Nigerian? If you inherit a house on fire, you don’t fan the flames, you put it out! Two years into his presidency, we’re still hearing excuses while mass graves multiply across the country.

Defending Tinubu’s inaction using history or regional politics is dangerous and dishonest. If the Taliban were to attack Nigeria tomorrow and the Tinubu government allows them to slaughter Nigerians without resistance, will we again blame religion or foreign influence or will we hold the Commander-in-Chief accountable?

This is not a religious issue. It is not an ethnic problem. It is a question of leadership. And in this critical area, Tinubu has failed to lead, failed to inspire and most importantly, failed to protect.

Grim Facts Don’t Lie
Let’s look at the numbers. According to SBM Intelligence, over 4,556 Nigerians were killed and more than 3,000 abducted in 2023 alone; Tinubu’s first year in office. Amnesty International reported that in Kaduna, Plateau and Benue states, coordinated attacks on villages continue with little or no military intervention. In March 2024, over 300 people were killed in Plateau within a week. And yet, no national day of mourning was declared. No military heads were sacked. Life went on as if Nigerian lives meant nothing.

Security spending under Tinubu has skyrocketed with over ₦3.25 trillion allocated to defense and security in the 2024 budget, yet the insecurity situation has only worsened. Where is the money going? Why are our soldiers underpaid, under-equipped and overstretched? Why are bandits better armed than the police? Why are communities forming vigilante groups to do the job the government is paid to do?
“It is better to have no government than to have one that kills its own people through negligence.” ~ Femi Falana, SAN

No Excuses, Just Accountability
Leadership is not about sharing palliatives or jetting around the world for photo ops. It is about responsibility. Nigeria is not a playground for political experiments. It is a nation of over 200 million human lives. Tinubu should not be spending more time in Paris and London than in Borno, Zamfara or Benue.

In April 2025, President Tinubu boasted during a foreign investment summit that “Nigeria is open for business.” But the truth on the ground is grim. Foreign companies are shutting down due to insecurity. Telecom masts are being destroyed. Railway lines are vandalized. Schools in the North are closing en masse. Between 2020 and 2024, over 1,500 schoolchildren were abducted by terrorists and under Tinubu, not much has changed.

In the words of former Chief of Defence Staff, General Martin Luther Agwai (rtd): “The country is gradually being taken over by non-state actors while the state folds its arms.”

Citizens Are Losing Hope
Youths are tired. Families are broken. Dreams are buried alongside loved ones in shallow graves. The idea of Nigeria has become a nightmare for too many. From the herdsmen killings in Benue to the communal clashes in Taraba, the terrorist ambushes in Borno to the kidnapping rings in Ekiti, the story is the same: death, destruction and despair.

Even the National Assembly is grumbling. In May 2025, several lawmakers demanded the sack of National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu and the Service Chiefs, citing failure to tackle escalating insecurity. Yet Tinubu continues to operate in denial, unwilling to admit the rot, unable to inspire confidence.

What Should Tinubu Do?
Enough is enough. President Tinubu must:

Declare a state of emergency on national security; with clear military, intelligence and community policing strategies.

Restructure the Nigerian Police Force to function more autonomously, with proper funding, training and accountability.

Replace non-performing security chiefs, this is not a retirement home.

Engage local communities through civil-military cooperation, dialogue and intelligence sharing.

Publicly address Nigerians every month with real updates on security and not empty rhetoric.

Final Word
To those still defending Tinubu blindly: you are part of the problem. Patriotism does not mean defending failure. It means holding leaders accountable. Nigeria cannot move forward when her citizens are being buried in mass graves while politicians exchange blames and play ethnic cards.

Security is not an optional promise. It is a constitutional obligation. And President Tinubu, so far, has failed to meet that obligation. If nothing changes, history will remember him not as the reformer he claimed to be, but as the man who fiddled while Nigeria burned.

“A nation that cannot protect its citizens has signed its own death warrant.” ~ Prof. Chidi Odinkalu, human rights activist

Nigeria DESERVES better. Nigerians DEMAND better… And we must not rest until we get it.

Written by George Omagbemi Sylvester
Published by SaharaWeeklyNG.com