National Coordinator of the Obidient Movement Worldwide, Yunusa Tanko, has lamented that the federal government, rather than proposing long-term security measures, simply provides food palliatives and relief supplies in response to mass massacres.
Tanko stated this while speaking in an exclusive interview on Eagle 102.5 FM, Ilese Ijebu, monitored by Media Talk Africa in Abeokuta on Wednesday.
Media Talk Africa reports that Friday’s Yelwata massacre in Benue State has claimed over 200 lives. Yelwata is a village by the roadside of the Benue–Nasarawa–Abuja federal highway.
Tanko, while describing President Bola Tinubu’s planned visit to Benue State as a “belated reaction,” criticised the administration for what he called a pattern of indifference to the rising levels of violence and insecurity in various parts of the country.
He said, “For us in the Obidient Movement, this is a belated visit. It is not the first time these kinds of attacks are happening. They have occurred repeatedly in Sokoto, Zamfara, Borno, and Benue, yet what we see is inaction until lives have been lost.
“Nobody has been arrested. Has anyone asked why the attacks happened? Have the victims been asked to tell their stories?” he queried.
“Noodles is not the solution to insecurity. It’s a shame that when Nigerians are being slaughtered, the government’s response is to show up late with cartons of food. Do the lives of Nigerians not matter at all?” he asked.
Tanko insisted that the security challenges affecting the country are deeply rooted and have been mishandled across multiple administrations.
“This issue is not new to the security surf of Nigeria. Insecurity did not start with this government, we know that. Neither did it start with the administration of former President Buhari. It’s been happening since the time of President Goodluck Jonathan when the Boko Haram insurgents were active, and it continued under Muhammadu Buhari. The problem was never uprooted from the grassroots.”
Meanwhile, the leader of the Obidient Movement called on President Bola Tinubu to declare a national state of emergency on security, emphasising that only a bold, strategic approach can reverse the trend.
