The Allied Peoples Movement (APM) has challenged President Bola Tinubu and the Minister of Defence, Gen. Christopher Musa (retd.), to travel by road without armed security escorts if they maintain that Nigeria’s security situation has improved.
The party argued that insecurity should not be assessed solely through government briefings or official statistics, but also by the experiences of ordinary Nigerians who live with the fear of travelling, the pain of losing loved ones to abduction, and the uncertainty surrounding missing family members.
Against this backdrop, the APM said the government’s assessment of the security situation does not correspond with the reality faced by citizens across the country.
In a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Abubakar Yusuf, the party accused the Tinubu administration of being in denial about what it described as worsening insecurity. It also criticised Defence Minister Musa for claiming that security conditions in the country had improved.
The APM said the claim was inconsistent with the 2026 Global Terrorism Index (GTI), which it stated ranked Nigeria as the fourth most affected country in the world, compared with sixth position in the 2025 ranking.
Yusuf said the minister’s remarks demonstrated what he described as the administration’s lack of sensitivity to Nigerians who continue to face killings, abductions, rape, injuries and ransom demands, as well as the detention of victims by bandits in harsh conditions.
The party alleged that over 600,000 Nigerians had been killed, while at least 2.2 million others, including women and children, had been abducted since the beginning of the Tinubu administration.
It also referred to the reported abduction of about 600 residents of Dekera, Gidan-Zana and Sabon Gida communities in Niger State the previous week. According to the party, women, children and elderly residents made up a significant number of those reportedly taken and were still being held captive.
The APM further cited data from SBM Intelligence, claiming that kidnapping for ransom had developed into a lucrative criminal enterprise, with more than N7.78 billion reportedly paid as ransom between July 2025 and June 2026.
Reacting to the alleged abductions, the party said it was particularly concerned that families across the country were suffering while the administration allegedly downplayed abductions by describing them as a “family affair.”
The party maintained that the government was either out of touch with the realities confronting Nigerians or intentionally attempting to influence public perception by minimising the scale of the insecurity crisis.
Yusuf said the party was concerned that the administration appeared to be either “dangerously disconnected from reality” or deliberately seeking to deny the actual situation in the country.
The APM attributed the continued deterioration in security to what it described as the government’s inability to formulate and effectively implement a strategy capable of addressing the crisis.
It warned that Nigeria could not afford another four years under what it described as an ineffective administration.
As the 2027 general election approaches, the party urged Nigerians not to lose hope but instead to support its presidential candidate, Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde.
The APM said Makinde had developed a blueprint aimed at addressing insecurity and other challenges confronting the country.
Yusuf said the party was urging Nigerians to remain determined and vote for Makinde, whom it described as “the people’s candidate,” with a programme designed to tackle insecurity and other problems the party attributed to the Tinubu administration.
