The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has strongly denounced the killing of about 170 residents in Kaiama Local Government Area of Kwara State, describing the tragedy as clear evidence of a deepening security failure under the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
In a statement issued on Friday and signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, the opposition party said the brutal attack highlighted the Federal Government’s inability to fulfil its most basic responsibility — protecting the lives and property of citizens. According to the ADC, repeated assurances by the government about improving security have not translated into safety for ordinary Nigerians, particularly those living in vulnerable rural communities.
The party questioned the status of the President’s earlier declaration of a state of emergency on security, as well as the much-publicised plan to recruit tens of thousands of additional police officers nationwide. It argued that the continued wave of mass killings across different parts of the country suggested that these initiatives were either poorly executed or existed only as public statements.
The ADC insisted that Nigerians deserve transparency on whether the proposed police recruitment has actually taken place, and if so, whether the officers have been adequately trained and deployed. It noted that if these measures were genuinely implemented, communities such as those in Kaiama should not have been left defenseless in the face of large-scale violence.
The party further alleged that the surge in visible security activities witnessed last year — following international comments, including concerns raised by the President of the United States — appeared to be more about projecting a positive image abroad than addressing the root causes of insecurity at home. According to the ADC, the persistence and spread of violent attacks since then show that the government is losing, rather than winning, the fight against terrorism and violent crime.
“The reality Nigerians are facing is not the elimination of terror, but its movement from one region to another,” the statement said, warning that insecurity is simply being displaced instead of resolved.
The ADC pointed to incidents such as mass abductions in Kaduna State and the recent killings in Kwara State as signs of serious structural defects in Nigeria’s internal security framework. It identified weak intelligence gathering, porous borders, poor coordination among security agencies, and inadequate emergency response systems as key factors enabling the ongoing violence.
According to the party, the scale of Nigeria’s security crisis has now surpassed the capacity of the current administration to manage it effectively. It lamented that deadly attacks have become routine, while accountability has steadily eroded.
“Government reactions have been reduced to issuing condolences and condemnations after every tragedy,” the ADC said, adding that a government that cannot guarantee the safety of its citizens has failed in its most fundamental obligation.
The party called on the Federal Government to be honest with Nigerians about the true state of national security, to provide a clear account of the police recruitment programme it announced, and to outline concrete steps for preventing terrorist groups from spreading and relocating across states.
“Nigeria cannot continue on this path of denial and inaction,” the statement concluded. “Human lives are not mere statistics, and governance must go beyond public relations.”
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