By Clement Abayomi
Former presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, has on Friday described the abduction of Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) candidates in Benue State as a national crisis, and said the incident shows a failure of leadership and security in Nigeria.
Obi made this known in a public statement reacting to reports that young students on their way to take the UTME were kidnapped in parts of Benue State.
He said the development was painful and unacceptable, especially at a time when many young Nigerians are struggling to get access to higher education.
He said the attack on students was “not just heartbreaking but a damning indictment of the failure of leadership and the collapse of security in our nation.”
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Obi noted that students who should be focused on their future were now facing fear and violence.
He explained that Nigeria already has a low number of university graduates compared to other countries.
He said only about one per cent of Nigerians have tertiary education, which is far below countries like Indonesia and South Africa.
He warned that losing more students to violence would worsen the situation.
Obi also criticised leaders for not doing enough to protect citizens, saying that those in charge of security appeared to be more focused on politics and the next election than on protecting lives.
He said that the same strength used for political activities should be used to secure roads, stop crimes, and rescue the abducted students.
Obi said the incident was not an isolated case and stated that such attacks were becoming a pattern across the country.
He stressed that the situation had gone beyond a single tragedy and should be treated as a national emergency.
Obi called for urgent and responsible action from the government. He said there must be no excuses or silence, but clear leadership that matches the seriousness of the problem.
He said, “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 this deserves.”
Obi warned that any nation that fails to protect its young people is putting its future at risk.
He said, “A nation that abandons its youth abandons its future. This cannot continue.”
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