Obi to Tinubu: Resign or Abstain from Seeking Re-election

The Nigeria Democratic Congress presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has called on President Bola Tinubu to resign or forgo a second-term bid, alleging that the President failed to contact Seyi Makinde more than 50 days after the abduction of schoolchildren in Oyo State.

In a statement posted on X on Monday, Obi said he recently travelled to Ibadan with Pat Utomi to express solidarity with Governor Makinde over the abduction, which he said remained unresolved after more than 50 days.

According to Obi, he was surprised to learn during the visit that Tinubu had not spoken with the Oyo governor since the incident.

“To my utmost shock, I discovered that, contrary to my assumption that they had been in regular communication over the matter, Governor Seyi Makinde had not received a single call from President Bola Tinubu,” Obi said.

He recalled that during his tenure as Governor of Anambra State, former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan would personally call state governors whenever serious security incidents occurred.

Obi also referenced the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping, noting that Tinubu was among those who criticised Jonathan for delaying his call to the then Borno State governor. He argued that although more than 13 school kidnappings had occurred under the current administration, the President had failed to show the same urgency.

“It is now an indisputable fact that governance has completely collapsed under this administration. The situation reflects a total lack of capacity and compassion, compounded by glaring insensitivity,” he stated.

Obi said the lives of abducted schoolchildren, their teachers and other Nigerians held captive should be the government’s highest priority, adding that the country’s worsening insecurity reflected a failure of leadership.

He urged President Tinubu to “either resign or, at the very least, abstain from seeking re-election for the sake of our dear country,” insisting that his appeal was “patriotic, not political.”