The Allied Peoples Movement (APM) has challenged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Minister of Defence, Gen. Christopher Musa (retd.), and other senior officials of the administration to travel by road without armed security escorts if the government’s claim of improved security is genuine.
The party made the challenge on Saturday in Abuja while reacting to Musa’s recent claim that the Federal Government had “defeated terrorists” and that kidnapping had been reduced to more of a “social ill” than a wider security concern.
The APM, through its National Publicity Secretary, Mr Abubakar Yusuf, accused the Tinubu administration of “living in denial” of the security realities confronting Nigerians, arguing that the situation on the ground contradicted the government’s claims.
“If the security situation has truly improved as the administration claims, the APM challenges the President, the Minister of Defence and other senior officials of the Tinubu Presidency to travel by road without armed security details as other Nigerians must do,” it said.
Musa, while speaking during a television interview earlier on Tuesday, had said the government had made significant progress in tackling terrorism and that the pattern of insecurity had shifted towards kidnapping.
“Frankly speaking, we have defeated terrorists because now, like I said, the attacks are not as rampant and it is now kidnapping.
“Like I said, kidnapping is a social ill where you now see wives kidnapping husbands and husbands kidnapping children”, he responded to a question.
The minister went on, “I can tell you there is improved security. Maybe if you noticed, you don’t hear so much of Boko Haram attacks, ISWAP attacks and all these things here and there, maybe one-off.
“Now, I say, the trajectory is this: from criminality to kidnapping to terrorism, insurgency; once you are able to hit them, it goes back downwards.
“So, we are now back into the stage of abductions and kidnappings because that is the easiest way for them to try and raise money.”
However, the APM said the minister’s assessment amounted to a “dangerous distortion of reality”, citing the Global Terrorism Index 2026, which it said ranked Nigeria as the fourth most insecure country in the world, compared with sixth position in the 2025 index.
Yusuf said it was unacceptable for a senior government official to claim that security had improved while Nigerians continued to face killings, abductions, displacement and other forms of violence.
“It is deeply disappointing that a minister of the Federal Republic could appear on national television to make such claims at a time when millions of innocent Nigerians are being killed, kidnapped, displaced and terrorised in various parts of the country,” Yusuf stated.
The APM spokesman also accused the government of being insensitive to the plight of Nigerians affected by killings, maiming, rape, ransom-driven abductions and captivity by bandits.
He said the administration could not claim to understand the anguish of families whose lives had been permanently disrupted by insecurity over the past three years.
Yusuf cited the reported abduction of about 600 Nigerians, mostly women, children and elderly people, from Dekera, Gidan-Zana and Sabon Gida villages in Niger State.
He noted, “Only last week, 600 Nigerians, mostly women, children and the elderly, were abducted from Dekera, Gidan-Zana and Sabon Gida villages in Niger State and are still languishing in captivity.”
Yusuf also cited data from SBM Intelligence, which he said showed that kidnapping for ransom had become a highly monetised industry under the Tinubu administration, with more than N7.78 billion reportedly paid as ransom between July 2025 and June 2026.
The party accused the administration of either being “dangerously disconnected from reality” or deliberately attempting to manipulate public perception by downplaying the security situation.
It also rejected the description of abductions as a “family affair”, arguing that such acts constituted terrorism and should be treated as a national security emergency.
The APM further argued that insecurity was “festering” under Tinubu, alleging that the administration lacked the capacity to develop and implement an effective blueprint to tackle the crisis.
The party urged Nigerians not to despair, but to support its presidential candidate, Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, in the 2027 election.
It said Makinde had a blueprint for tackling insecurity and other challenges facing the country, adding that the Tinubu administration would end on May 29, 2027.
