The Makinde-Daura Presidential Campaign Organization (MDPCO), under the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to urgently secure the release of prospective National Youth Service Corps members abducted in Imo State.
The campaign organisation also urged the President to take immediate steps to secure the “unconditional release and safe return of other Nigerians abducted in Niger, Kwara, Kaduna, Zamfara, Sokoto, Katsina, Borno and other parts of the country”.
The call was contained in a statement by Richard Ihediwa, Director of Strategic Communications of the campaign, who criticised the Federal Government’s response to the abduction of the corps members.
Ihediwa said the victims had remained in captivity for four days despite public concern over their fate.
He said, “notwithstanding the fact that Nigerians are determined to vote out the President, it is still unpardonable that four days after the abduction of the corps members and despite the public outcry, President Tinubu has remained silent while the abducted corps members languish in misery in their captors’ den.”
The APM campaign organisation argued that protecting citizens remained a fundamental responsibility of government, as provided for under the Nigerian Constitution.
It said Nigerians could not afford a leadership that was “not alive to the primary purpose of government as provided under Section 14 (2)(b) of the Constitution of the Federal of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) which is the security and wellbeing of citizens.”
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Ihediwa further argued that the Federal Government assumed a heightened responsibility for the safety of young Nigerians once they were mobilised for the NYSC scheme.
“In other climes where leaders prioritize the wellbeing and safety of citizens, citizens are not allowed to remain and suffer in captivity, as has become the horrible reality in Nigeria under the failed All Progressives Congress (APC) administration,” the statement read.
The campaign organisation also criticised the government’s handling of the country’s broader security challenges, arguing that repeated assurances had failed to address the growing number of abductions and killings.
Ihediwa said insecurity could no longer be addressed with rhetoric, describing the situation as a consequence of what he called the APC administration’s failure to take decisive action.
He said the issue should no longer be treated with rhetoric, lip service and kid gloves “as the APC administration has done especially in the last three and half years, resulting in the killing of more than 600,000 innocent Nigerians by terrorist elements, with countless others in captivity”.
The MDPCO described the security situation as unacceptable and urged the President to intensify efforts to rescue the abducted corps members and other Nigerians still held captive.
“These ugly indices are unacceptable and can no longer be overlooked by Nigerians. The MDPCO calls on President Tinubu to act now, deal decisively with insecurity and bring back the abducted corps members and all other Nigerians who are languishing in the hands of their abductors.”