Former Vice Presidential Spokesman, Laolu Akande has launched a stinging assessment of President Bola Tinubu’s administration, declaring that the President has surrounded himself with second-class and third-class low-level people who are failing to give him the quality of counsel required to govern a country facing serious security and governance challenges.

Akande, who served as media aide to former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, made the remarks during an appearance on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme, where he addressed the escalating insecurity in Nigeria, particularly in the context of the mass abduction of schoolchildren and teachers in Oyo State.

“The kind of people a leader or the president surrounds himself with — I have said this several times — one of the problems with our president today is that he has managed to surround himself with second-class, third-class, low-level people,” Akande said bluntly. “And that is the problem because he is not getting the kind of counsel he needs. So if people are talking rubbish about political opponents and enemies, who cares who is doing it.”

The former presidential aide made clear that the primary concern for every Nigerian should be the rule of law and the state’s obligation to pursue and punish criminals, regardless of their affiliations or the political noise surrounding the security crisis. He stressed that President Tinubu, as Commander-in-Chief, carries ultimate responsibility for the safety of Nigerians and cannot abdicate that duty.

“Our business is that there is a crime, there should be punishment, and that is why the president is called the Commander-in-Chief,” Akande said. “There is a reason why that title is fixed to the president. There shouldn’t be anybody that the president can’t tackle for the security of the country.”

In the same appearance, Akande also called on Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State to set aside political differences and personally meet with President Tinubu to present a unified front in tackling the ongoing abduction crisis. He argued that both the state and federal governments must demonstrate synergy to the Nigerian public at a time of grave national distress, noting that the two leaders being geographically close to each other with no such meeting yet held was difficult to justify.

Akande’s remarks add to a growing chorus of voices from within and outside the political establishment demanding higher standards of governance and a far more decisive response from the Tinubu administration to the country’s deepening security crisis.