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.
“The scavengers have had their turn. Now it is the turn of the common man—the true Nigerian: keke rider, okada, street hawker, market woman, farmer and the unemployed graduate. And I, Donald Duke, seek to be their champion.
“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,” he vowed.
Earlier, PRP National Chairman, Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, described Duke as the party’s best choice to lead Nigeria and rescue it from its current challenges.
“Today, we present our team of candidates who will lead the march towards national revival and the retrieval of the dreams of past generations who believed that Nigeria has a destiny to fulfil. As a party, we are humbled that they chose to fly our flags,” he said.
Baba-Ahmed said the party’s candidates were committed to selfless service and understood the consequences of poor leadership.
“Every one of our candidates is steeped in the values of selfless service with excellence. These men and women who laboured to be our candidates understand the task ahead of them.
“They know the type of politician who has brought our country to its knees. They know the price we have paid for having leaders who have hijacked our democratic institutions to run us aground. Above all, they know they can stop the rot and turn our country around,” he said.
Endorsing Duke’s candidacy, the PRP chairman emphasised that he represents the best of Nigerian leaders.
“Under the leadership of Donald Duke, Nigeria will be safe, secure, prosperous and a nation worth respecting by its citizens and the international community.
“The PRP is fielding hundreds of candidates who speak volumes for the democratic nature of our party. Other parties competing with us cannot do justice to their own members in internal leadership selection processes.
“How can they be fair to Nigerians? Big parties that trash all requirements for justice and fairness for their members now want Nigerians to trust them,” he stated.
