Tracking Terrorists, Boasting About It Is National Shame – Atiku Blast Tinubu Govt

The storm began at dawn on November 17, when gunmen raided Government Girls’ Secondary School in Maga, Maga, dragging terrified students out of their dormitory.

The raid left one staff member dead, one schoolgirl escaping moments after, and 24 schoolgirls bundled into captivity in the forests beyond the community.

Days after the girls regained freedom, former Vice President Atiku has knocked the Federal Government’s celebration of the development, declaring that their rescue is a national indictment, not a national win.

In a statement released on Wednesday, signed by his media office, the former vice president said the girls’ freedom “should not be presented as an achievement,” describing it instead as a glaring sign of Nigeria’s worsening security climate.

“This is not a trophy moment,” he said. “It’s a damning reminder that terrorists now negotiate openly, dictate terms and walk away untouched while the presidency issues press statements to save face.”

Atiku took direct aim at comments by Presidential Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, who had on Monday explained that the Department of State Services and the Nigerian military tracked the kidnappers in real time, ‘made contact,’ and secured the girls’ release without paying ransom—with operations requiring caution against bombing innocent civilians.

Onanuga had said: “The security people, they know all the bandits… They know them. They know where they operate. They need to be very careful that in the course of chasing these bandits, they don’t go and bomb innocent Nigerians.”

But Atiku dismissed this explanation as: “A shameful attempt to whitewash a national tragedy and dress up incompetence as heroism.”

Atiku asks, “If, as Onanuga claims, the DSS and the military could track the kidnappers in real time and made contact with them, then the question is simple:”

‘Why were these criminals not arrested, neutralised, or dismantled on the spot?’

‘Why is the government boasting about talking to terrorists instead of eliminating them?’

‘Why is kidnapping now reduced to a routine phone call between criminals and state officials?’

The former Ekiti governor also argued that the administration’s own defence paints a darker portrait—one where criminals have become emboldened enough to operate like a parallel power structure.

“Bandits and abductors have become an alternative government, negotiating, collecting ransom and walking away untouched, while the presidency celebrates ‘compliance’,” Atiku said.

“No serious nation applauds itself for negotiating with terrorists it claims to have under surveillance,” he added.

“No responsible government congratulates itself for allowing abductors to walk back into the forests to kidnap again.”

The girls were held until Tuesday, when the suspected terror gang freed the last 24 schoolgirls still in captivity.

President Bola Tinubu, in a statement, had welcomed the release, saying: “I am relieved that all 24 girls have been accounted for.”

He also commended security agencies, called for more boots on the ground, and directed forces to prioritise rescuing other captives across the country.