Tinubu inherited decades of kidnapping crisis – NSA Ribadu

…Link the Oyo kidnapping to a long-lasting national security collapse

It assures Nigerians of the “final defeat” of the criminal network

National Security Adviser (NSA), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, has said President Bola Tinubu inherited a long-standing and deeply rooted kidnapping crisis, insisting that Nigeria’s current security challenges, including school kidnappings, predate the current administration by more than two decades.

Ribadu stated this on Sunday during the visit of a Federal Government delegation to Oyo State following the abduction of 46 school children and staff of a school in the state, an incident which has once again heightened national concern over school security.

The NSA said Oyo’s kidnapping was part of a larger pattern of insecurity rooted in years of unchecked criminal activity, stressing that banditry and terrorism-related kidnappings have become a persistent national threat.

“Mr. President is doing wonderful and strong things that will help us overcome these challenges. Most of these things we inherited. It is not today. These evil people have been with us for two decades or more,” Ribadu said.

He argued that the Tinubu administration was intensifying coordinated military and intelligence operations aimed at dismantling criminal networks behind kidnappings and terrorist attacks across the country.

“We will defeat evil. We will never let them. They are going away, I can assure you,” he added.

The Oyo incident adds to a growing list of mass school abductions that have continued to raise concerns about the security of educational institutions across Nigeria, despite repeated security interventions over the years.

Mass abductions of schoolchildren first attracted global attention in 2014 following the Chibok kidnapping in Borno state during the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Since then, similar attacks have continued under successive administrations, including that of former President Muhammadu Buhari and the current Tinubu-led government, underscoring what analysts describe as a recurring security failure.

Security experts note that while the nature and geography of insecurity have evolved over time, the pattern of mass abductions, particularly those targeting schools and rural communities, has remained a disturbing constant.

Recent data and reports have also highlighted continued incidents of kidnapping in different parts of the country, fueling concerns about the effectiveness of current anti-kidnapping strategies.

The federal government, however, reiterated its commitment to strengthening intelligence-based security operations and increasing deployment to vulnerable communities in a renewed effort to curb banditry and terrorism nationwide.

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