PDP member and Peter Obi supporter, Dickson Iroegbu, has accused President Bola Tinubu of “waking up very late” to Nigeria’s spiralling insecurity, saying the government has been distracted by political manoeuvring for 2027 instead of protecting citizens.
Iroegbu, a public affairs analyst and member of the Peoples Democratic Party, spoke on TRUST BASE NEWS on Friday during a panel discussion on the third mass kidnapping in one week and other violent attacks across the country.
Opening his critique, he said the worsening security crisis showed deep governance failure.
“it’s a sad period for the nation, Nigeria,” Iroegbu said. “We thought we had overcome this. We thought we could come together to solve our problem as a people, but it’s unfortunate that before now what the APC government, led by the Tinubu administration, has been all about is destruction for 2027. And so the government has suffered.”
He said the President’s sudden public-facing engagement with the crisis appeared overdue.
“Suddenly, this moment that the President is now awake… well, I can say to him from this end: good morning this night. Good morning, because Mr President, you’re waking up quite very late,” he said. “But all the same, we the people of Nigeria want to unite and indeed look for a solution to these issues.”
Iroegbu insisted that propaganda about economic gains could not hide the absence of meaningful governance.
“Propaganda won’t work. All of that infusion of, ‘Oh, economic gains made.’ What economic gains did you have? Please, let’s stop all of that and just realise that there’s something wrong about governance in our country,”he said.
He argued that Tinubu had prioritised political calculations over national cohesion.
“The President failed woefully, because over and over again we called out some of the steps being taken and said: engage the system, engage the people, to even believe in the policies you’re bringing out,”Iroegbu said. “But every moment, any opportunity they get, it’s all propaganda.”
He linked the President’s current actions to external pressure, especially from the United States.
“The pressure from the international community, particularly from Trump and all of that, I hope will translate,” he said. “When the issue of Christian genocide was presented out there, rather than focus on human beings, the government said, ‘Oh, there is no Christian genocide, there are more Muslims.’ Please, let’s just stop it and put the interests of the Nigerian people first.”
Iroegbu said Tinubu had not shown visible leadership since the latest wave of killings and abductions.
“It is time for the President to also address the nation, because these lives matter,” he said. “It’s not enough to play to the gallery of ‘Oh, I’m cancelling my international engagements.’ Stay back to do what, Mr President? We haven’t seen you yet. We haven’t heard from you yet. We haven’t seen you express grief about the state of our country — and that calls for concern.”
He added:“Enough of the distraction of 2027. Let us face governance.”
Iroegbu also reacted to the US congressional hearing investigating Nigeria’s religious-persecution allegations and broader insecurity, saying the session exposed Nigerian leaders’ failures.
“When I tuned in, I felt ashamed as a Nigerian,” he said. “I felt hurt that our representatives in the National Assembly couldn’t do what the US Congress was doing about our country. I just saw that indeed these people don’t seem to care. They don’t care. Our interest is not on the table — it’s their interest.”
He said the hearing demonstrated how deeply Nigeria’s political class had lost touch with the suffering of citizens.
“You could see human beings discussing issues about other human beings. One of them was moved to tears. That, for me, simply shows that our leaders have lost their humanity,” he said. “Every day in Nigeria since APC came to power… not less than 100 people are killed. And there’s no end in sight.”
He acknowledged that Christians were disproportionately affected while noting that all groups had suffered.
“There is genocide in Nigeria — that’s a fact,” Iroegbu said. “It’s not only Christians being killed, other Nigerians are being killed. But targeted victims are mostly Christians, and nobody can dispute that. The records are there,”he concluded.
Boluwatife Enome
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