Senate President Godswill Akpabio stood before a room full of senior government officials in Abuja on Tuesday — with President Tinubu seated in the audience — and made a claim that has since set off a storm of argument across the country. Nigeria’s surge in terrorist bombings, he said, is not organic violence. It is a deliberate, politically funded campaign designed to destabilise the Tinubu administration ahead of the 2027 general elections. He said it plainly: “Believe me, Mr President, two weeks after you win the elections, the bomb blasts will stop. People are sponsoring it to distract you from your work.”
The logic — and its problems
Akpabio’s claim is not inherently implausible. Political violence in Nigeria has a long and documented history of being instrumentalised by powerful interests. But the statement carries a serious logical trap: if the government already knows who is funding terror attacks, why are those individuals not being arrested, charged, and prosecuted? The appropriate response is prosecution — not a speech at an inauguration ceremony.
The backdrop
Akpabio’s remarks came barely 24 hours after President Tinubu held a closed-door security meeting at the Presidential Villa with France’s military officials. The United States Embassy in Abuja, around the same time, authorised the voluntary departure of non-emergency staff and their families, citing a ‘deteriorating security situation.’ When America quietly tells its own people to get out, it tends to cut through political messaging.
What Nigerians are saying
Public reaction on social media and in political commentary has been largely sceptical. Many Nigerians pointed out that the victims of the Jilli market airstrike — and victims of countless bandit and insurgent attacks across the North — deserve concrete answers, not a political theory. Akpabio’s critics say he is offering the government an excuse not to be accountable.z
Chukwu Vincent Ogbonnia is the founder and lead editor of Viralarena, a Nigerian digital media platform covering breaking news, music, and sport. Based in Abuja, Vincent is a content creator passionate about telling Nigerian stories with speed, accuracy, and cultural authenticity.
Chukwu Vincent Ogbonnia is the founder and lead editor of Viralarena, a Nigerian digital media platform covering breaking news, music, and sport. Based in Abuja, Vincent is a content creator passionate about telling Nigerian stories with speed, accuracy, and cultural authenticity.
