Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has strongly criticised President Bola Ahmed Tinubu over his recent visit to Plateau State, describing the trip as a “deeply troubling” display of detachment from the pain of Nigerians affected by the latest wave of killings.
In a statement issued Thursday through his aide, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku said it was shocking that days after the deadly attacks in Plateau, the President’s much-publicised “on-the-spot assessment” allegedly did not go beyond the airport area. According to him, Tinubu failed to visit the actual communities hit by violence or stand directly with grieving families who lost loved ones in the attacks.
Atiku argued that the visit looked more symbolic than sincere, claiming it appeared to have been cut short so the President could proceed to Lagos for the Easter break. In his view, that decision sent the wrong message at a time when families in Plateau were still mourning and looking for leadership, reassurance, and urgent security action.
He also accused the presidency of turning a tragic moment into a political exercise, alleging that Tinubu’s engagement in Jos focused more on party loyalists, traditional rulers, and political stakeholders than on the direct victims of the killings. Atiku said Nigerians do not need carefully managed public appearances in moments of national pain — they need a government that can genuinely protect lives and respond with seriousness when innocent citizens are slaughtered.
The former vice president further linked the Plateau visit to what he described as a worrying pattern, referencing Tinubu’s condolence trip to Benue State in 2025. According to Atiku, that earlier visit also avoided the full emotional and symbolic weight Nigerians expected from a president responding to mass killings. He suggested that what should have been moments of national mourning are repeatedly being reduced to choreographed appearances.
One of the strongest parts of Atiku’s criticism was his claim that the President neither visited bereaved families in their communities nor saw injured victims in hospital. He said that beyond the optics of showing up, Tinubu failed to offer the kind of clear, forceful policy direction Nigerians want to hear whenever insecurity strikes again.
However, reports from other outlets indicate Tinubu did hold meetings in Jos with Plateau officials, security stakeholders, and some victims, and also offered assurances that the killings would not recur. That means the political debate here is less about whether he came at all, and more about whether the visit matched the scale of the tragedy and the expectations of grieving citizens.
Atiku’s broader message was simple: Nigerians are no longer impressed by ceremonial sympathy. Insecurity has become too deadly, too frequent, and too normalised for leaders to respond with brief appearances and prepared speeches. For many citizens, especially in places like Plateau, what matters now is not whether the President arrives with cameras — but whether people can go to sleep without fear of being attacked.
And that is the real political weight of this criticism.