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Home Politics More Than 1,100 Abducted in Four Months While Tinubu’s Campaign Machinery Moves Quietly Toward a Second Term

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More Than 1,100 Abducted in Four Months While Tinubu’s Campaign Machinery Moves Quietly Toward a Second Term

West Africa WeeklyMay 20, 20265 Mins read21

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As heavily armed bandits behead a teacher in Oyo State, kill a former lawmaker after nine days in captivity, and abduct at least 1,100 people across northern Nigeria in just four months, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s political machinery is quietly accelerating toward a second term in 2027. To grieving families and a terrified populace, the contrast has become impossible to ignore: while the President condemns each new atrocity with a familiar script, his support groups are mobilising grassroots structures in all 36 states to secure his reelection.

The nation’s security situation has deteriorated into what Amnesty International now calls a “deepening abduction crisis.” Between January and April 2026 alone, at least 1,100 people were kidnapped across northern Nigeria, with victims frequently subjected to torture, starvation, rape, and forced to witness or commit atrocities. In January, gunmen stormed three churches in Kaduna State and abducted at least 166 worshippers during a morning service. In March, more than 400 people were seized in Ngoshe, Borno State. And just last week, armed bandits raided three schools in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State, abducting students, pupils, and teachers before releasing a viral video showing a mathematics teacher, Michael Oyedokun, being beheaded.

‘A Government That Cannot Secure Its Highways Cannot Claim to Govern’

The death of former House of Representatives member Abba Adamu, abducted along the Abuja-Kaduna highway on May 3 and found dead nine days later, has become a grim symbol of the administration’s failure. Reacting to the incident, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar accused the Tinubu government of presiding over a “worsening collapse of security” and questioned what hope remains for ordinary Nigerians.

“When a former member of the National Assembly can be abducted on one of the country’s most strategic highways and die in captivity, what hope remains for the ordinary Nigerian who lacks visibility, influence, or protection?” Atiku said in a statement. “A government that cannot secure its highways cannot claim to govern. A government that watches citizens get hunted like prey has failed the most elementary test of leadership”.

He added that the administration’s response to repeated tragedies has become dangerously predictable. “At a time when armed criminals are abducting schoolchildren, killing innocent citizens and turning communities into graveyards, the President’s response remains the same tired ritual: condemn the killings, threaten that the perpetrators will face the full wrath of the law, and then wait for the next massacre”.

Peter Obi Joins Criticism, Says Tinubu Has ‘Normalised Terror’

Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate Peter Obi has also stepped up his attacks on the administration’s security record. In a series of posts on X over the past week, Obi said the government has “normalised terror” by treating mass kidnappings as routine. “We are at a point where families now budget for ransom like they budget for school fees. That is not governance, that is abandonment,” Obi wrote. He specifically called out the President’s decision to focus on 2027 politics while bandits operate freely. “You cannot campaign for a second term on a platform of security when schools are empty because parents are afraid to send their children out. The first term has failed on this core promise. There is no mandate for a repeat.”

Obi also challenged the narrative of blind loyalty, arguing that Nigerians deserve better than choosing between “a fearful silence and a reckless defence of failure.” His comments have been widely shared, with many opposition supporters seeing him as a direct alternative to both Tinubu and Atiku in 2027.

Rivals Allege Tinubu’s Priorities Lie With 2027, Not Security

While bandits operate with impunity along major highways, inside homes, and even inside churches, Tinubu’s reelection campaign is already taking shape. A political support group, Grassroots Mobilisation for APC PBAT Nationwide, has publicly endorsed the President for a second term, announcing at a press conference in Abuja that it has established functional structures in all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory to deliver Tinubu in 2027. The group’s National Chairman, Anthony Oladejo, declared that “our future and that of our children is secure under his leadership,” a claim many families of kidnapping victims would bitterly dispute.

Opposition parties have seized on the disconnect. The Peoples Redemption Party accused the ruling All Progressives Congress of prioritising political calculations for 2027 over the worsening security crisis. Rivers State PRP governorship aspirant Nature Dumale questioned the rationale behind pursuing political ambitions while insecurity continues to destabilise communities nationwide.

“Can these selfish political ambitions be realised if Nigeria collapses under insecurity and citizens continue to die daily?” Dumale asked. He accused the administration of being more interested in weakening opposition parties than confronting the nation’s escalating security crisis. A faction of the Peoples Democratic Party similarly accused the President of focusing more on political battles than on protecting lives. “We admonish the President to devote even half the energy, tact and strategy his administration invests in constricting the political space for the opposition towards building a security architecture capable of protecting lives,” the Turaki-led PDP faction said.

‘The Authority of the State Has Collapsed’

Statistics paint a picture of a nation under siege. A report by geopolitical research firm SBM Intelligence found that 2,938 people were kidnapped in the Northwest region alone between July 2024 and June 2025, representing over 60 percent of reported incidents nationwide. In 2025, banditry accounted for 599 incidents and 2,724 deaths, while kidnapping reached 3,141 victims, marking one of the highest figures in recent years. Already in 2026, at least 160 people were abducted in January and another 160 in subsequent weeks.

Amnesty International has warned that the situation constitutes a breach of Nigeria’s constitutional and international obligations. “The Nigerian authorities are grossly failing in their duty to protect lives,” the organisation said, adding that security forces often arrive hours after attackers have left, while the continued failure to investigate attacks and prosecute perpetrators encourages impunity.

Yet amid this bloodshed, a viral post on X has exposed what many see as the most troubling obstacle to accountability. A user named 𝕊𝕀𝕊𝕋𝔸𝕃𝕀𝔸ℕ𝕆 wrote to his tens of thousands of followers: “Listen to me, if bandits like, let them kidnap the whole Nigerians, we will still vote for Ashiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.” The post had been viewed more than 91,000 times within 24 hours, drawing hundreds of replies, some celebrating the loyalty, others condemning it as a sign of a broken political culture where leaders face no consequences for failing to protect citizens.

Listen to me, if bandits like, let them kidnap the whole Nigerians, we will still vote for Ashiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

— 𝕊𝕀𝕊𝕋𝔸𝕃𝕀𝔸ℕ𝕆 🇳🇬💐 (@Sistaliano) May 18, 2026

Atiku Abubakar went further on Tuesday, arguing that criminal groups now operate with confidence because they no longer fear the state. “When terrorists can invade schools, abduct children and teachers, kill pregnant women and sack entire communities without consequence, it means the authority of the state has collapsed,” he said. The former vice president also accused the administration of trying to suppress images and evidence of mass killings. “If this government is more interested in censoring evidence of mass killings than preventing them, then that is not just incompetence, it is cruelty of the highest order,” he said.

As the 2027 election draws closer, one question increasingly haunts the national conversation: How can a President who cannot secure the Abuja-Kaduna highway, who watches teachers beheaded and lawmakers die in captivity, credibly ask Nigerians for another four years? For the families of the 1,100 abducted since January, and for the countless others who live in daily fear, that question has already been answered.