Human rights lawyer, Inibehe Effiong, has taken a swipe at President Bola Tinubu’s administration, accusing it of lacking the seriousness and commitment needed to tackle the worsening insecurity across the country.
Effiong, who spoke on Tuesday during an appearance on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief, said the government has been “uninterested” in addressing the escalating killings, abductions and terrorist attacks ravaging several states.
Describing the state of the nation as dire, Effiong argued that Nigeria is deteriorating faster than ever under the current administration.
“If, at a minimum, we do want to agree that the state has failed, we should be able to agree that Nigeria is failing and it’s failing at an accelerated rate because today we have a commander-in-chief that is not even commanding the Boy Scouts,” he said.
According to him, presidential directives no longer inspire fear or action among security agencies.
He further stated, “We have a commander-in-chief whose words, whose orders, are almost meaningless.”
Effiong accused President Tinubu of devoting more energy to political realignments ahead of the 2027 elections than to protecting citizens.
“What the president is doing is welcoming decampees, celebrating governors who are transiting from PDP and LP to the APC. That is what excites him. I have not seen that passion from this president to stop the killings,” he said.
The lawyer dismissed claims that the country lacks the capacity to end terrorism and banditry.
Effiong said, “I would never accept that the Nigerian government does not have the capacity to stop these things because how many are they, Boko Haram, ISWAP, the so-called bandits who are actually terrorists, how many are they?”
His remarks come on the heels of recent mass abductions in Niger and Kebbi states, and the kidnapping of worshippers in Kwara, though the Kwara victims have since regained freedom.
Effiong questioned why the President delegated Vice President, Kashim Shettima, to visit Kebbi instead of going personally.
He said, “First, he has not visited the victims. Is the vice president the commander-in-chief? When the vice president went to Kebbi, what did he achieve?”
He also criticised Tinubu’s recent directive withdrawing police escorts from VIPs.
He said, “Yesterday or two days ago, an announcement was made that this same president has ordered that policemen will be withdrawn from all VIPs in Nigeria so that policemen can be redirected to fight insecurity.”
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