2027: Donald Duke blames bad leadership for insecurity

L-R: Former Labour Party Vice Presidential Candidate, Datti Baba-Ahmed; immediate past National Chairman of PRP; ex-Cross River Governor Donald Duke and National Chairman, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed during the presentation of certificates to the party's candidates in Abuja on Wednesday. Photo Credit: Adebayo Folorunsho-Francis

Former Cross River State Governor and presidential candidate of the Peoples Redemption Party, Donald Duke, on Wednesday blamed Nigeria’s worsening insecurity and the estimated N2tn paid to kidnappers in 2025 on years of failed leadership. Duke spoke in Abuja during the presentation of certificates of return and party flags to the PRP’s presidential, governorship and legislative candidates ahead of the 2027 general elections. His concerns came five days after the United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Mohamed Malick Fall, demanded the release of school children and teachers abducted in recent attacks in Oyo and Borno states. While accepting the party’s presidential nomination, Duke said Nigeria had lost its direction and was now being controlled by self-serving politicians who had deepened poverty and insecurity across the country. The former governor painted a grim picture of the nation’s security situation, alleging that criminal groups had become more powerful in some areas than the government itself. Citing figures attributed to the National Bureau of Statistics, Duke said ransom payments to kidnappers had reached alarming levels. He said, “Our land has become so desolate that bandits, gangsters and kidnappers collect taxes while the government collects excuses. As reflected in a report by the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics, approximately N2tn was paid as ransom to kidnappers in 2025 alone—an amount equivalent to about 10 per cent of the entire federal budget. “All this is because our leaders have failed to do what is right when it was right and for whom it was right. At the end of the day, the best politics is, and always will be, doing the right thing—not the expedient thing. And he who does not know what is right has no business leading others.” He pledged to pursue policies that would restore security and improve living conditions for ordinary Nigerians. “We must strive for a Nigeria where farmers return safely from their fields and where every child has a desk and chair in a decent learning environment.” Duke said the PRP’s mission was to empower ordinary Nigerians rather than political elites. Related News Insecurity: Reps vote on state police bill Thursday Reps move to stop Army policy retiring SSCC, DSSC