Insecurity: Nigeria Paid N2tn Ransom To Kidnappers In 2025 Due To Leadership Failure — Donald Duke

Former Cross River State Governor and presidential candidate of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), Donald Duke, has blamed Nigeria’s worsening insecurity and the estimated N2 trillion paid to kidnappers in 2025 on years of failed leadership.

Duke made the remarks on Wednesday 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 comments came amid growing concerns over insecurity across the country and recent calls for the release of schoolchildren and teachers abducted in attacks in Oyo and Borno states.

Accepting the party’s presidential nomination, Duke said Nigeria had lost its direction and was now being controlled by self-serving politicians whose actions had deepened poverty, insecurity and hardship.

According to him, criminal groups have become so emboldened that they now wield influence in some communities while citizens continue to bear the consequences of poor governance.

“Our land has become so desolate that bandits, gangsters and kidnappers collect taxes while the government collects excuses,” Duke said.

Citing figures he attributed to the National Bureau of Statistics, the former governor claimed that approximately N2 trillion was paid as ransom to kidnappers in 2025 alone.

“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 stated.

Duke pledged that, if elected, he would pursue policies aimed at restoring security and improving living conditions for 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,” he said.

The PRP presidential candidate said the party’s mission was to empower ordinary Nigerians rather than political elites, insisting that the country’s future should belong to hardworking citizens.

“The scavengers have had their turn. Now it is the turn of the common man—the true Nigerian: keke rider, okada rider, street hawker, market woman, farmer and the unemployed graduate. And I, Donald Duke, seek to be their champion,” he said.

“This fight will be tough and bitter, for they will fight back. But we are tougher, more resilient, and our cause is both right and just. If we stood together to win our independence from an empire, together we can redeem Nigeria from these scavengers.”

Earlier, PRP National Chairman, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, described Duke as the party’s best choice to lead Nigeria and reverse the country’s current challenges.

Baba-Ahmed said the party’s candidates were committed to selfless service and possessed the capacity to provide the leadership needed to reposition the country.

“Under the leadership of Donald Duke, Nigeria will be safe, secure, prosperous and a nation worth respecting by its citizens and the international community,” he said.

He also criticised major political parties, arguing that parties that fail to uphold fairness and justice in their internal processes cannot be trusted to govern Nigerians effectively.

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