The presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) in the 2027 election, Peter Obi, has alleged that Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde told him President Bola Tinubu had not contacted him more than 50 days after the abduction of schoolchildren in the state.
Obi made the claim in a post on X on Monday, where he criticised the Federal Government's handling of insecurity and called on the president to forgo seeking a second term in office.
According to Obi, he had publicly appealed twice to the kidnappers to release the children and had also spoken with Makinde on two occasions to express solidarity, describing the incident as "a Nigerian tragedy" rather than an Oyo State problem.
He said he visited Ibadan on Friday, July 3, alongside economist Prof. Pat Utomi, where they met with Governor Makinde to discuss the security situation.
Obi said he was surprised to learn during the meeting that the governor had allegedly not received any phone call from President Tinubu since the abduction.
"But, to my utmost shock, I discovered that, contrary to my assumption that they had been in regular communication over the matter, Governor Seyi Makinde had not received a single call from President Bola Tinubu," Obi wrote.
The former Anambra State governor said that while he was in office, former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Musa Yar'Adua and Goodluck Jonathan regularly contacted governors whenever serious security incidents occurred.
Drawing a comparison with the 2014 Chibok schoolgirls' abduction, Obi recalled that Tinubu was among those who criticised then-President Goodluck Jonathan over the delay in contacting the affected state governor.
"Today, under President Tinubu, there have been more than 13 school kidnappings, yet the President has found it difficult to call the affected state's chief executive after more than 50 days. This is outrageous," he said.
Obi argued that the continued abduction of schoolchildren and other Nigerians reflected a broader failure of governance, saying the Federal Government had not shown sufficient urgency in addressing insecurity.
He concluded by urging President Tinubu to either resign or decline to seek re-election in 2027.
"Amid such an apparent display of incompetence, the president should either resign or, at the very least, abstain from seeking re-election for the sake of our dear country. This call is patriotic, not political," Obi said.
The Presidency had not responded to Obi's allegations as of the time this report was filed.
