The Nenadi Usman-led faction of the Labour Party has issued a stinging rebuke to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, warning that his administration must urgently overhaul Nigeria’s security architecture or risk losing credibility with the Nigerian people.
In a strongly worded statement released on Thursday in Abuja, the party’s factional National Publicity Secretary, Tony Akeni, accused Tinubu and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) of presiding over a worsening security situation, despite Nigeria spending more than ₦6.5 trillion and billions of US dollars on defence over the last decade.
According to the statement, the nation’s security crisis is not the fault of one administration alone but the cumulative failure of both the APC and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which held power before 2015. The Labour Party insisted that neither party could absolve itself of responsibility for the bloodshed, banditry, and kidnappings plaguing Nigerians daily.
The opposition faction stressed that the primary duty of any government is the protection of lives and property, warning that excuses and political rhetoric would no longer suffice. “If President Tinubu cannot deliver this, he should sack National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu, reconfigure the armed services, step up his security governance, or do Nigerians a patriotic favour by sacking himself,” the party declared.
Akeni further argued that Nigerians were tired of empty promises, citing the recent rise in violent attacks across the North and South, the abduction of commuters on highways, and the killings in rural communities as proof that the country is sliding into deeper insecurity.
He challenged Tinubu to show leadership by demanding accountability from the military and security chiefs, arguing that Nigeria’s resources cannot continue to vanish into defence budgets without visible results. “We cannot keep burying our citizens while leaders look the other way. Security must be result-driven, not budget-driven,” he emphasized.
The statement concluded by calling for an urgent national security summit that brings together government, civil society, traditional rulers, and international partners to chart a credible rescue plan. Anything less, the Labour Party warned, would amount to betrayal of the people’s trust and a slow march towards national collapse.
