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ADC Slams Tinubu’s Push For UN Security Council Seat Amid Insecurity

ByTitilope Adako

PublishedSeptember 28, 2025

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has faulted President Bola Tinubu’s push for Nigeria to secure a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council, describing it as misplaced while killings and abductions continue across the country.

ADC National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, in a statement on Sunday, argued that Tinubu cannot be pursuing global influence while allegedly neglecting the primary duty of protecting lives and property at home.

He noted that Nigeria has long pushed for a permanent seat at the UN Security Council, a demand that Vice President Kashim Shettima, on behalf of the President, reiterated at the ongoing UN General Assembly in New York.

The ADC, however, questioned how an administration struggling to guarantee peace could credibly seek a place at the centre of global security decision-making.

The statement read, “The African Democratic Congress finds it absurd that the Tinubu administration could be requesting a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council even as bandits slaughter Nigerians at home and take control of some of the nation’s territories.

“We wonder how a government that cannot ensure peace or security at home could demand a seat at the table where global security is negotiated and expect to be taken seriously.

“Only last Friday, gunmen, yet again, attacked a mosque in Yandoto village, Zamfara State, and massacred worshippers while abducting several others.

“Only a few weeks ago, in the same Zamfara State, no fewer than 45 Nigerians were killed, with entire villages sacked and dozens abducted.

“This was after a similar attack in Katsina State had left about 47 dead and several more injured or taken hostage.

“In just two months, more than 140 Nigerians have been murdered in Katsina and Zamfara alone.

“As of May 2025, Amnesty International reported over 10,000 lives lost in Nigeria to attacks by various armed groups.

“These are not numbers, they were human beings, they were Nigerians that this administration had promised renewed hope.”

The ADC also recalled how armed gangs in Zamfara extorted over N56 million from farmers as a condition to access their farmlands, noting that non-state actors now act like a parallel government.

It added, “What is happening is not a mere failure of security.

“It is clear evidence, written in blood and piles of innocent bodies, of a government that has lost control.

“In any serious country, these situations would have triggered resignations, emergency meetings, and a strategic overhaul.

“Here, it only receives routine condolence tweets from presidential propagandists.”

The party insisted that Nigeria’s request for a Security Council seat would remain laughable until the government demonstrates both the capacity and willingness to secure its citizens.

It stated, “Leadership on the global stage must begin with responsibility at home.

“You cannot be asking to be admitted into the club of those who take the lives of their citizens seriously while the very land you govern is soaked with the blood of the very people you have sworn to protect while you do nothing.”

The ADC further berated Tinubu for missing the commissioning of 874 officers at the Nigerian Defence Academy for the second consecutive year.

It said, “With the dire security situation in the country, we would have expected the President to seize the occasion to inspire and charge the new officers to give their best in protecting the country and its people.

“We would have expected the President to seize the opportunity of being in Kaduna to reassure the people of northern Nigeria of his commitment to protect them, to give hope to Zamfara and Katsina, as well as other northern states under siege.

“But no, instead, the Commander-in-Chief chose to travel to Lagos to commission the renovation of the National Arts Theatre.

“What all this signals is that this administration is plagued by misplaced priorities.

“The President has become a passive spectator, watching from a safe distance, while villages burn and prayers end in gunfire.”

The ADC warned that such indifference could create the impression that some Nigerian lives matter less than others.

It concluded, “A President that was quick to declare a state of emergency over a political crisis in Rivers but has nothing to say about the existential crisis in Zamfara and Katsina cannot claim to believe that all lives matter.”

Titilope Adako

Titilope Adako is a talented and intrepid journalist, dedicated to shedding light on the untold stories of Osun State and Nigeria. Through incisive reporting, she tackles a broad spectrum of topics, from politics and social justice to culture and entertainment, with a commitment to accuracy, empathy, and inspiring positive change.