The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has said that Nigeria under President Bola Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress (APC) is sliding into a dangerous new phase of state failure, following reported extortion of over N56 million from farmers in Zamfara State by bandits as well as the chilling video of an entire village in Ifelodun Local Government of Kwara State, completely abandoned to terrorists.
Its National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, in a statement issued Friday said these situations therefore demand immediate serious attention to restore order and protect lives and livelihoods.
He noted that the situation where farmers had to pay money to terrorists before they could gain access to their own farmlands, was not just a Zamfara tragedy, but a national warning.
Abdullahi stressed that a situation where people had to abandon an entire town to bandits, in the very heart of the country, was not just a local challenge but an evidence of national surrender.
He noted: “When armed gangs can collect N56 million from farmers for the “right” to plant food, the issue is no longer about insecurity. It is about criminal elements contesting the right to govern a part of Nigeria.
“When criminals can tax citizens at gunpoint, it means the state has surrendered its monopoly of force and state authority is in retreat.
“We are dismayed that this could be happening in a country with one of the largest defence budgets in Africa, yet our farmers are left to bargain with warlords for their survival.”
The party recalled that in the same Zamfara state, only a few days ago, about 50 people were abducted in one swoop.
Abdullahi said added to this was the eerie picture of an entire town where all the people, the young, the old and the infirm had to seek refuge elsewhere for fear of bandits attacks.
He said: “There are other cases which show a very alarming pattern suggesting that other parts of the country considered safe may not be so for long.
“The pertinent question therefore is whether the Tinubu-led APC government is still in charge and can still be trusted to do its most fundamental duty, which is to protect the lives and properties of Nigerians.”
Abdullahi further recalled that in November 2014, Tinubu, leader of the opposition party at the time, asked President Goodluck Jonathan to resign over the Boko Haram challenges in the North-East of the country.
He pointed out that though the security situation that Tinubu was using to campaign in 2014 had multiplied exponentially under his party and is currently enjoying great prosperity under his direct watch, no one is calling on him to resign.
Abdullahi said: “The ADC does not want President Tinubu to resign. We only ask him to do his job. We also ask the pertinent question, why did the President think that the security situation in Rivers State warranted the declaration of state of emergency, but the one in Zamfara with industrial scale kidnapping and a direct challenge to the authority of the Nigerian State by way of bandit tax does not even deserve a direct comment from him?
“We will like to urge President Tinubu to drop whatever else that pre-occupies him and direct his attention to Zamfara State and other parts of the country menaced by bandits.”