Former Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi has severely condemned the abduction of Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination candidates in Benue State, calling the act a manifestation of the country’s rising insecurity.
Obi stated in a post on his verified X handle on Friday that the students’ captivity was both tragic and a significant indictment of leadership failure.
“The news of the abduction of innocent UTME candidates in Benue State is not just heartbreaking but a damning indictment of the failure of leadership and the collapse of security in our nation,” he said.
The former Anambra State governor complained that young Nigerians pursuing education are increasingly being subjected to violence, saying that this trend poses a serious threat to the country’s future.
“We cannot afford to lose even one more student to violence. A nation that abandons its youth abandons its future,” he added.
Obi also emphasized Nigeria’s low rate of postsecondary education attainment, stating that it is significantly lower than that of comparable countries.
“In a country where the share of tertiary graduates is already painfully low, far below peers like Indonesia and South Africa, such an incident is unacceptable,” he said.
He also criticized those in authority, accusing them of prioritizing political interests over the safety of citizens.
“Those entrusted with protecting these young students appear increasingly preoccupied with the next election, projecting strength and power to rig elections, rather than deploying that same power to secure our roads and rescue the abducted children,” he stated.
Attributing the incident as part of a troubling pattern, Obi called for urgent and decisive action to address insecurity nationwide.
“This is no longer an isolated tragedy. It is a pattern. It is a national crisis. And it demands urgent, decisive, and responsible action, not excuses, not silence, but leadership that matches the scale of the emergency,” he said.
