Datti Baba-Ahmed, Labour Party’s 2023 vice-presidential candidate, has warned that insecurity in Nigeria is being deliberately politicised by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) for political gain.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Tuesday, September 2, Baba-Ahmed said, “Insecurity has been part of APC’s game. I think [El-Rufai] is right—the government has been paying them.
“Insecurity has been the APC’s way of staying in power. That is my candid, firm opinion, strengthened by the kind of unfortunate comments like that of Nasiru.”
He blamed former Kaduna State governor Nasir El-Rufai for being complicit.
“El-Rufai cannot run away because he is part of it. My grudge with Nasiru’s statement is that he was part and parcel of the APC from 2013.
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“All of a sudden, [he has] to come and absolve himself. No. Nasiru is part and parcel of all that has been going on. We suffered, we are victims of Nasiru’s misrule in Zaria.”
Baba-Ahmed also criticised the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) for downplaying the claims. “If the Office of the National Security Adviser will take this statement with levity, then Nuhu Ribadu was never a policeman.
“Nasiru should be writing to the police, to the court. If the position of the government is to be paying bandits, then we don’t have a nation,” he said.
He emphasised that insecurity had become a political tool, not just a security challenge.
“I am in so much pain, believe me. Nigeria should be a great country, yet we have people destroying us by the hour. The politicisation of insecurity undermines governance, development, and public trust,” Baba-Ahmed added.