House Minority Leader Tells Tinubu to Resign if He Cannot Lead and Protect Nigerians

Fred Agbedi, the Minority Leader in the House of Representatives, has publicly called on President Bola Tinubu to resign, arguing that the president's response to Nigeria's worsening insecurity and his overall leadership have fallen short of what the country needs.

Agbedi made the statement on Channels Television's Politics Today programme, walking through his reasoning in terms that were direct and, in places, deliberately sharp.

The Minority Leader framed his call as a matter of democratic principle rather than partisan attack, drawing on precedent from both sides of the political divide.

"When Tinubu said from Lagos that Jonathan should resign, what did you say? That is the duty and beauty of democracy. The beauty of it is that if you are not able to give leadership to your nation, if your government fails, both those in the minority and those who are free citizens of the nation have the right to say you either perform or quit," he said.

He also cited his own record, noting that during the eighth Assembly he rose on the floor of the House of Representatives to declare that President Buhari's government had failed, comparing the value of Nigerian lives to a minute's silence. His point was that this is not a new position for him. He has applied the same standard regardless of who is in power.

The Fred Agbedi Tinubu resignation demand rests on two specific examples that he believes illustrate a pattern of disengagement from the human cost of insecurity.

The first is the President's visit to Jos following attacks in Plateau State. Agbedi said Tinubu cited poor airport lighting as a reason to leave within ten minutes, without going to meet the affected people.

"Tinubu went to Jos to sympathize with the people of Plateau State who suffered insecurity attacks. What did the president say? The airport has no light, so in the next 10 minutes he was going to leave. He didn't even go to see the people at Jos airport," Agbedi stated.

The second example concerns Oyo State, where teachers and pupils were reportedly kidnapped. Agbedi said the president, who was in Lagos at the time, did not travel to Ibadan to respond or show solidarity with the affected community.

"How many children are in captivity in Oyo State? The President was in Lagos, did he go to Ibadan? An American president will stand at the airport to receive one soldier that was slain at the war front," he said.