A former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili, has blasted President Bola Tinubu, Nigerian governors, lawmakers and the Nigerian political class, accusing them of abandoning Nigerian children to terrorism, kidnapping and systemic neglect.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, May 27, 2026, as Nigeria marks this year’s Children’s Day celebration, Ezekwesili warned the President and political leaders against issuing the customary Children’s Day messages, insisting they have lost the moral right to celebrate children while thousands remain victims of abductions and insecurity across the country.
She stated, “A warning to President Bola Tinubu, the Nigerian government, the national assembly, the Senate, the House of Representatives, Governors’ Forum, State Houses of Assembly, and the Nigerian political class at large:
‘Do not dare wish our children ‘happy Children’s Day’ today. To the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Vice President, the Governors of the 36 States, the Federal Executive Council, the Members of the National Assembly, the State Houses of Assembly, and the entire political class that has captured and destroyed the Nigerian State:
‘Do not dare. Do not dare open your mouths on May 27 to wish Nigerian children a ‘Happy Children’s Day.’”
Ezekwesili continued, “‘Do not dare release the recycled, ghost-written platitudes your media handlers have already drafted.
“Do not dare stand in front of cameras, surrounded by carefully arranged children in matching uniforms, to perform a tenderness you have never extended to the millions of Nigerian children you have abandoned, betrayed, and condemned to lives of suffering.’”
According to Ezekwesili, Nigerian leaders had forfeited every moral justification to celebrate children while insecurity continued to ravage schools and communities nationwide.
“‘You have no moral standing to wish anything to Nigerian children. None. Consider what you are dishonourably wishing them,’” she stated.
The former minister cited multiple cases of mass abductions of schoolchildren across the country, accusing the government of normalising terror attacks on schools.
“‘You are wishing ‘Happy Children’s Day’ to the 39 students and 7 teachers seized only days ago, on 15 May 2026, from a secondary school and two primary schools in Ahoro Esinele community in Oriire district of Oyo State — children aged between two and sixteen, snatched from the southwest in a chilling expansion of a terror that you swore would be confined to the north.
“You are wishing ‘Happy Children’s Day’ to the 25 schoolgirls of the Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School in Maga, Wasagu/Danko, Kebbi State, taken from their hostel at dawn on 18 November 2025, after gunmen killed the vice principal and most of whom are still missing as I write.’”
She also referenced the abduction of students in Niger State and Kaduna State, saying the incidents reflected the collapse of governance and security.
“‘You are wishing ‘Happy Children’s Day’ to the 303 students and 12 teachers of St. Mary’s Catholic Primary and Secondary School in Papiri, Niger State, seized on 21 November 2025 — children aged 10 to 18, boys and girls — whose abduction forced more than 20,000 Nigerian schools to close indefinitely.
“You are wishing ‘Happy Children’s Day’ to the 287 students of the Government Secondary School in Kuriga, Kaduna State, taken by gunmen on motorcycles on 7 March 2024 in broad daylight while you and your political colleagues posed for swearing-in photographs.’”
Ezekwesili further condemned what she described as the indifference of the political class toward victims of mass kidnappings, particularly the abducted Chibok schoolgirls.
“‘You are wishing to the Chibok girls — over 90 of whom are still missing, twelve years after April 14, 2014, while you have moved on, and for your repugnant luxury, speedily rebuilt and redecorated Aso Villa, bought opulent hideous cars, and rotated power among yourselves as if those girls never existed.
“But their parents, who gave birth to them, continue to grieve and daily rain curses on the evil leaders that have shown no empathy towards them and their abducted daughters.’”
She also mentioned victims from Dapchi, Kankara, Kagara, Jangebe, Afaka, Greenfield, Bethel Baptist and Tegina, saying Nigeria had become numb to repeated tragedies involving children.
“‘You are wishing ‘Happy Children’s Day’ to the children of Dapchi, Kankara, Kagara, Jangebe, Afaka, Greenfield, Bethel Baptist, Tegina — and to the many whose abductions never made the headlines because Nigeria had run out of capacity to grieve.
“You are wishing ‘Happy Children’s Day’ to the at least 1,799 students seized in a dozen of the largest abductions since Chibok, and to the 670 children affected by at least 10 school kidnappings in less than two years — a litany of horror compiled not by your security agencies, but by international human rights organisations doing the work your government refuses to do.’”
Nigeria has witnessed repeated attacks on schools over the past decade, particularly in northern states where armed groups have increasingly targeted students and teachers for ransom.
The mass abduction of over 270 schoolgirls from Government Girls Secondary School Chibok in April 2014 became a global symbol of the country’s worsening insecurity and triggered the #BringBackOurGirls campaign, which Ezekwesili prominently championed.
