By Lateef Ibrahim, Abuja
Recently, the spate of insecurity and continued killings in Plateau and Benue States have attracted the attention of prominent politicians including opinion leaders.
In this interview, the leader of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and its 2023 presidential candidate, Prince Adewole Adebayo, said insecurity is a sign of poor governance, asking the government to go to root cause in addressing the challenges.
He thinks President Tinubu should be held responsible for the continued insecurity in the land.
Q. Insecurity/ethnic massacre: Many prominent Nigerians have argued that the people should carry arms to defend themselves… What’s your view on this?
A. I run on the platform of Farewell to Poverty and Insecurity, so we’ve always known that poverty and insecurity go together. Insecurity has taken a negative dimension, and now we are producing children graduating from university who grew up in an environment with no safety. We started with the problems of Chibok girls. If any of those girls was 10 years old then, how old would they be now?
So, insecurity is not new. Nobody can say, “Oh, when I was running for election in 2023, I didn’t know there was insecurity.” Any insecurity we have now is a sign of poor governance.
Q. Are you saying the government is to blame for this continued insecurity?
A. Absolutely. With the amount of resources we’ve committed to the issue of security, if we were a country without all these natural resources, what would we be doing now? We’d be calling on foreign governments to help us.
So, I think the government of the day should be held responsible for failure of intelligence and for not responding when intelligence comes. The persistent communal tensions across the country show how frustrated everyone is, and reprisal and revenge now seem like the only way people feel they can even out when they feel injured.
Q. What do you think the government can do differently to address this crisis?
A. The government should go to the root causes. For instance, where herders are involved, government should create a policy around how herders move—a well-thought-out policy. And in case that policy fails, and someone mischievously or accidentally loses cattle, there should be insurance.
I’m a cattle herder myself. Just today, I lost two cows. But I’m not going to die over it, because I’m self-insured. I raise cattle in ranches. Even in the Southwest, I have ranches. I have a plan to accommodate the loss of any cattle. If there’s a national insurance program, I will subscribe. Investigate the loss, I get compensation.
Just like third-party car insurance—you hit my car, you give me your insurance, and I go claim. No need to slap anybody. We need something similar for herders and crop farmers.
Q. What about the more violent cases—like those attributed to Boko Haram or other terror cells?
A. For those involving pure criminality, like Boko Haram—based on intelligence available to me, and I believe President Tinubu has access to even better intelligence—it’s not about communal clashes. These are just criminal cells trying to make a statement.
In a place like Basa, it might look like reprisal rooted in an incident that happened two years ago. I’m not excusing anything, but maybe two years is enough time for the government to have reached out. They didn’t.
Q.You seem to have personal experience with government neglect?
A. Yes. In one of my estate developments in Abuja, about three years ago, the government mistakenly damaged my construction. They sent a whole directorate to apologize, but I still haven’t received compensation. If I was a desperado, and I saw government officials, and do something to them, people would say I was crazy. But that’s because the system doesn’t take care of people. Now imagine the less privileged. These are the problems we must fix to address security.
Q. Are you indirectly saying this is a failure of leadership?
A. Oh, I’m directly saying it’s a failure of leadership. Achebe said it four decades ago, and he was right—leadership is Nigeria’s problem. And I don’t need to tell you that President Tinubu is a full-fledged mascot of leadership failure. A living example of how leaders fail while still alive.
But he needs to look around. The office of Commander-in-Chief isn’t just about wearing agbada. The president is the head of state, the father of the country, whom we can be proud of, the comforter of the bereaved. His position requires compassion, it requires presence. Even if the problem is outside your jurisdiction, the President must show empathy—when a boat capsizes, when people die—he must be a comforter of the bereaved, a co-celebrant in joy and a co-mourner in pain.
Q.Some say the Presidency is harder than it looks. Many leaders make promises before entering, but once in office, they find it’s much tougher. What do you say to that?
A. Have you seen weightlifters? When they can’t lift a weight, they drop it. Try again. Train more. But if, after everything, you still can’t lift it, what do you do? You resign. That’s why the Constitution provides for voluntary resignation.
The fact that I am bereft of ideas doesn’t mean the whole country is. That’s why you choose a capable vice president. If anything happens to you—or if you quit—they step in. But in Tinubu’s case, he hasn’t even lifted the weight. He’s just sitting there, enjoying himself, doing fashion. Not doing the job, but holding the trophy and calling himself champion.
As someone who has observed many administrations, does Tinubu look like a working president?
Honestly, rate him by yourself, does it look like he is working at all?. To me, he looks like a former president who’s just visiting the Villa.
