Atiku Presidency clash over killings
The Presidency and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar have renewed their political confrontation over Nigeria’s security crisis, trading accusations after a report indicated that 5,091 people were killed in violent incidents across the country within three months.
The latest Atiku Presidency clash over killings erupted after Atiku described the figures as a damning indictment of President Bola Tinubu’s handling of national security and argued that protecting citizens remained the most fundamental responsibility of government.
The Presidency rejected that conclusion, accusing the former Vice President of focusing selectively on fatalities while ignoring military operations, arrests, disruption of terrorist networks and the rescue of thousands of kidnapped Nigerians.
At the centre of the dispute is data published by SBM Intelligence, a Lagos-based geopolitical research firm, which tracked media-reported violent deaths during the second quarter of 2026.
The organisation recorded 5,091 deaths between April and June. Of that number, 2,644 were identified as civilians, while 304 security personnel were also reported killed. Borno State recorded the highest number, with 1,355 fatalities.
The statistics cover deaths arising from different forms of violence, including terrorism, insurgency, armed robbery, gang clashes, kidnappings and other security incidents. They should therefore not be interpreted as deaths from one conflict or one category of attack.
Atiku says killings expose government failure
Atiku, the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, reacted to the figures in a statement issued on Sunday, August 9, by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu.
The former Vice President argued that the 5,091 deaths represented more than an abstract security statistic.
He said every person killed represented a family thrown into mourning and a citizen who had expected protection from the Nigerian state.
The Atiku Presidency clash over killings intensified when the former Vice President linked the security crisis to what he described as poor fiscal discipline, wasteful public expenditure and inadequate implementation of funds appropriated for defence and security.
Atiku maintained that soldiers, police officers and other personnel confronting terrorists, bandits and kidnappers could not be expected to perform effectively without adequate equipment, operational funding, allowances and welfare support.
He welcomed the Federal Government’s recently announced improvement in military remuneration but argued that salary increases alone would not solve the operational problems facing security personnel.
According to him, adequate equipment, funding and welfare remained essential if Nigeria expected troops to confront increasingly sophisticated armed groups.
Atiku also urged the government to reduce what he characterised as unnecessary expenditure and ensure that resources appropriated for national security were fully implemented.
His sharpest political argument was that the 5,091 reported deaths represented thousands of reasons for Nigerians to demand a change of government in the 2027 presidential election.
Presidency rejects Atiku’s assessment
The Presidency responded through the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Temitope Ajayi, who accused Atiku of promoting what he described as a politics of despair.
Ajayi argued that Atiku’s criticism failed to acknowledge security operations carried out during the same period.
He said official figures showed that Nigerian security agencies had killed between 13,000 and 20,000 terrorists within the period and rescued more than 10,000 Nigerians from kidnappers, bandits and insurgents.
Those numbers were presented by the presidential aide as official security figures. Ogele News has not independently reconciled them with a single publicly available consolidated dataset, and they should therefore be attributed to the Presidency rather than treated as an independently verified national total.
The Atiku Presidency clash over killings consequently involves two different measurements of Nigeria’s security situation.
Atiku is emphasising civilian and security fatalities documented by an independent conflict-monitoring organisation.
The Presidency is drawing attention to terrorists reportedly killed, criminal networks disrupted and kidnapped civilians rescued during security operations.
Both measurements are relevant, but neither automatically cancels out the other.
The killing of militants may demonstrate operational pressure on armed groups, while continuing civilian deaths may simultaneously show that the security threat remains severe.
Presidency points to hostage rescues
Ajayi cited recent rescue operations as evidence that the country’s security services were becoming more effective.
One of the most significant occurred in early August when more than 300 captives were rescued following a joint security operation around the Kainji Lake National Park axis.
The operation involved the Armed Forces, police and counterterrorism personnel.
Among those rescued were 163 people abducted during the February attack on Woro community in Kwara State and another 145 captives, many of whom had been taken from Niger State. The operation was described as one of Nigeria’s largest single-day hostage recoveries.
The Presidency has cited such operations as proof that improved intelligence sharing and coordination among security agencies are producing results.
Ajayi also accused Atiku of failing to acknowledge daily arrests of suspected terrorists, logistics suppliers, informants and other criminal collaborators.
The presidential aide said the former Vice President’s emphasis on fatalities was politically motivated ahead of the 2027 election.
Police dispute Atiku’s interpretation
The Nigeria Police Force also challenged Atiku’s assessment.
Force spokesperson Ani Iniedu said available security analytics showed that violent crime had declined substantially over the preceding six months.
She said she did not intend to engage in an argument with a former Vice President but maintained that broader security data should be considered when assessing the situation.
The police position added another dimension to the Atiku Presidency clash over killings, because it raised the question of how Nigeria measures progress against insecurity.
A decline in some categories of violent crime can occur while other forms of violence remain severe.
Nigeria is confronting several overlapping security challenges, including jihadist insurgency in the North-East, banditry and kidnapping in the North-West and North-Central regions, communal conflicts, armed robbery and other organised criminal activity.
Consequently, national statistics can sometimes conceal sharp differences between regions and between categories of violence.
What the SBM figures actually show
The SBM Intelligence data deserves careful interpretation.
The organisation described its figures as media-reported killings, meaning they are compiled from documented reports of violent incidents rather than from a complete government mortality register.
That distinction matters.
Some deaths in remote communities may never reach the media, while initial casualty figures from violent incidents can later be revised.
The data therefore provides an important indicator of the scale and distribution of violence, but it should not automatically be treated as a perfect count of every violent death in the country.
According to reports on the Q2 data, 5,091 people were killed between April and June 2026, with Borno accounting for 1,355 deaths and 304 security personnel among the nationwide fatalities.
The Atiku Presidency clash over killings should therefore focus not only on who can deploy the most politically damaging statistic but on whether the available figures show sustained improvement in public safety.
Nigeria’s wider security challenge
Nigeria’s insecurity predates the Tinubu administration, but the current government bears responsibility for the policies and security strategy implemented during its tenure.
The country continues to face an insurgency in the North-East, expanding militant threats around parts of the North-West and North-Central regions, large-scale kidnapping and rural banditry.
A March 2026 Financial Times assessment, citing ACLED data, reported that almost 30,000 people had died in violent incidents since Tinubu took office in May 2023. The report also noted concerns that insecurity in remote areas can make precise casualty counting difficult.
The government, however, has increased military operations and expanded international security cooperation while presenting arrests, terrorist casualties and hostage rescues as evidence that its strategy is beginning to deliver results.
The conflicting evidence explains why the Atiku Presidency clash over killings cannot be responsibly reduced to a simple claim that security has either completely failed or completely improved.
Both civilian casualty trends and operational results matter.
Security becoming a major 2027 election issue
The confrontation also carries an unmistakable political dimension.
Atiku is contesting the 2027 presidential election on the platform of the African Democratic Congress, while Tinubu is seeking another term.
Security, the economy, cost of living and governance are therefore becoming central arguments in the campaign.
Ajayi went beyond defending the administration’s security record and directly attacked Atiku’s political ambitions, predicting that Nigerians would reject him again at the polls.
He argued that Tinubu would win because the administration was making progress against insurgency and stabilising the country.
Atiku, on the other hand, framed the reported deaths as evidence that voters should remove the government.
The Atiku Presidency clash over killings has therefore moved beyond a technical debate about security data into an early battle over the narrative that could shape the 2027 presidential campaign.
The danger of politicising casualty figures
There is a deeper issue beneath the exchange.
Security statistics should not become mere campaign ammunition.
The figure of 5,091 represents reported deaths arising from actual violent incidents. At the same time, rescued hostages represent people whose lives may have been saved through successful security operations.
A responsible assessment of government performance must consider both.
The Presidency cannot dismiss civilian deaths simply because terrorists have also been killed or hostages rescued.
Likewise, the opposition should acknowledge genuine operational improvements where evidence supports them.
What Nigerians need is consistent and transparent national security reporting that allows citizens to compare fatalities, kidnappings, rescues, arrests, prosecutions and territorial control over time.
Such data would make it harder for either government or opposition politicians to select only the numbers that support their preferred narrative.
Ogele News perspective
The Atiku Presidency clash over killings reflects one of the most important questions confronting Nigeria ahead of the 2027 election: are Nigerians becoming safer?
That question cannot be answered by rhetoric alone.
SBM Intelligence’s report that 5,091 people died in violent incidents during the second quarter of 2026 is deeply troubling and deserves serious attention.
The Presidency’s evidence of mass hostage rescues, arrests and successful military operations also deserves recognition where independently verifiable.
But security success should ultimately be measured by whether ordinary Nigerians can travel, farm, attend school, trade and live in their communities without fear of terrorists, bandits or kidnappers.
The Atiku Presidency clash over killings should therefore produce more than another round of political insults.
The Federal Government should publish comprehensive and regularly updated security statistics showing how many attacks occurred, how many civilians and security personnel were killed, how many people were abducted and rescued, and how many suspects were arrested and successfully prosecuted.
Atiku and other opposition leaders should scrutinise those figures and present credible alternatives rather than rely solely on condemnation.
The Presidency, for its part, should resist the temptation to dismiss every criticism as political desperation.
The fact that security agencies have rescued thousands of Nigerians is encouraging. The fact that thousands of people are still being killed in violent incidents remains unacceptable.
Both realities can exist at the same time.
As the Atiku Presidency clash over killings intensifies ahead of the 2027 election, Nigerians deserve a debate built on evidence, accountability and workable security solutions rather than competing political slogans.
Ultimately, the most convincing security scorecard will not come from Atiku, the Presidency or campaign speeches.
It will come from communities where people can finally say that the violence has stopped.
https://guardian.ng/news/atiku-5091-killings-expose-tinubus-security-failure
