Adebayo Faults Tinubu’s Handling of Insecurity, Says Trump’s Tweet Forced Action

The 2023 presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Prince Adewole Adebayo, has urged President Bola Tinubu and his administration to take governance more seriously, rather than reacting only when international pressure mounts, saying that it took a tweet from U.S. President Donald Trump for President Tinubu to acknowledge the gravity of Nigeria’s security crisis.

Adebayo, who spoke in a recent interview, said Nigerians made a major mistake by electing President Bola Tinubu, citing the worsening insecurity across the country.

“First, he has heated up the whole country with poor economic policies that are making everybody desperate and agitated. In terms of security, he has not been paying attention to Nigerians who are paying ransom everywhere—from ‘one chance’ kidnappers to armed groups,” he said.

According to him, millions of Nigerians have been victims of “one chance” operators alone, yet the government has not demonstrated appropriate concern.
“The only reason he is now sensitive to the situation is because Trump sent a tweet,” he added.

He argued that if the government sustains its current momentum and stops using insecurity as a cover for mismanaging public resources, kidnappers and terrorists would no longer be able to operate freely.

Adebayo praised the intelligence within Nigeria’s security agencies but claimed the problem lies with leadership at the top.

On President Tinubu’s recent directive for security agencies to cordon off forests in states affected by rising attacks, Adebayo said the order came late and should not have been made public, saying “That should have been done long ago. Announcing it publicly will not yield much because the bandits are also watching the news and will quickly restrategize”.

Reacting to claims by the presidency that opposition parties were sabotaging the administration ahead of 2027, Adebayo dismissed the allegation as baseless, querying “How can you say someone is sabotaging you when you don’t even have ambassadors in key countries—the US, the UK, France, China? Even if you want to joke, how can you ignore ambassadorial postings to Security Council member states?”

He warned that treating diplomatic appointments as political favors would continue to undermine Nigeria’s foreign relations.