Nigeria in Freefall — Tinubu and the APC Are Steering the Nation Into Ruin

Nigeria has gone mad again. The signs are everywhere, as kidnappings, deaths, poisoned communities, collapsing institutions, reckless governance, and the central force driving this national disorder is the leadership of President Bola Tinubu and the APC government. The administration that promised renewed hope has instead plunged the country deeper into chaos, insecurity, and institutional decay.

Under the APC rule, the country is ungoverned. Bandits roam freely across states, abducting citizens at will. In Kaduna, Reverend Edwin Achi was murdered in captivity after he and his family were taken by bandits demanding N600 million. Elsewhere, communities are overrun. A 16-year-old boy and six girls were kidnapped in the FCT, vigilantes were outgunned, and entire neighbourhoods fled for safety. Ransom demands now come weekly, with N500 million demanded for 13 locals in Kaduna alone. This is not governance, this is abandonment.

Mass abductions have become a grim routine, with 38 worshippers taken in Kwara and 24 schoolgirls kidnapped in Kebbi. The government parades their eventual release as victory, calling the operations “non-kinetic,” a phrase that has become a euphemism for negotiation, appeasement, and quiet deals. Yet, no masterminds are arrested, and no criminal networks are dismantled. Under APC, justice has been replaced by back-channel settlements that only strengthen kidnappers.

The rot within the security system is even deeper. The killing of Brigadier General Musa Uba by ISWAP, amid allegations of internal betrayal, exposes a defence architecture compromised from within. But instead of confronting this crisis, the government offers silence. Soldiers die without honour. Terrorists move with confidence. And a controversial cleric who openly sympathises with kidnappers,

Sheikh Gumi moves around with police protection while urging Nigerians to “exercise patience.” Gumi’s son also graduated from the Nigerian Defence Academy. Under APC, the lines between state power and extremist influence have become dangerously blurred.
Tinubu is now being measured by the standard he once set for himself. In 2014, he declared that any president under whose watch mass kidnappings occur should resign. Today, under his watch, Nigeria is drowning in the same tragedies, only worse. APC has become the embodiment of the very failure it once condemned.

The government’s insensitivity was further exposed when Vice President Shettima attended a political rally in Lokoja only hours after schoolgirls were abducted. While families cried, the APC celebrated defections. This is not leadership; it is political arrogance.
Beyond insecurity, APC’s failure extends into environmental carnage. In Ogijo, Ogun State, citizens are being poisoned by toxic battery recycling plants operating with impunity. Children and adults have blood lead levels as high as 38 µg/dL, levels known to cause permanent brain damage. Workers smash batteries with axes, inhale fumes, and handle toxic waste with bare hands. NESREA briefly shut the facilities, yet they reopened within weeks, unchanged. Congenital disabilities, miscarriages, and unexplained deaths haunt the community, while the APC-led government looks away.

Financial governance shows the same pattern of recklessness. The appointment of Xpress Payment Solutions as a federal revenue collector has revived fears of a powerful private revenue cartel, echoing Alpha-Beta-style controversies from Tinubu’s tenure in Lagos. In the sports sector, $960,000 in FIFA funding for the Super Falcons vanished into bureaucratic shadows, leaving essential needs unmet.

This is the APC model, where money disappears, accountability disappears, and excuses multiply. From the forests controlled by bandits to the poisoned streets of Ogijo, from compromised barracks to questionable revenue structures, Nigeria is experiencing a complete institutional collapse. APC’s governance has become a cycle of crisis, denial, negligence, and impunity.

Nigeria has descended into chaos again, and under Tinubu and the APC, this chaos has become the new normal.

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