Former presidential candidate Peter Obi has raised the alarm over heightened insecurity in Nigeria, berating President Bola Tinubu for retreating in France while dozens of people are killed across the country.

“Amid all these, the CEO (Mr Tinubu) of the troubling company called Nigeria is retreating far away land in France from the company’s headquarters,” stated the ex-Anambra governor.

In a statement on Wednesday, Mr Obi charged Mr Tinubu, who is on a “working visit” to France, to “quickly suspend whatever he is doing in France and rush home” to tackle the security crisis.

“I am compelled at this time in our lives as a nation to call on our retreating President’s attention to the security challenges at home, which entails that he immediately suspend his ongoing retreat in a foreign land and come home to address the overwhelming security situation across the country,” said the Labour Party politician.

He noted that in the two weeks Mr Tinubu has been away, “over 150 Nigerians have lost their lives to insecurity across Nigeria, especially in Plateau and Zamfara states.”

“The repeated pipeline explosions in the Niger Delta, further reflect a nation in distress,” Mr Obi said.

The opposition figure stated that Borno leaders “are bemoaning the return of insurgency with troops and civilians being killed randomly.”

“In the South-East, the story is the same: killings and abduction,” he added.