Makinde's Chibok comparison is a dangerous deflection

Governor Seyi Makinde has compared the criticism he received over the Oyo abduction to what former President Goodluck Jonathan faced during the Chibok girls kidnapping. He said in Bauchi that when Chibok happened Nigerians blamed Jonathan, but when Oyo happened they blamed him. He argued that if you give responsibility you must also give authority.

This comparison is deeply flawed. Chibok was a national security failure under a sitting president who had full control of the military. Oyo is a state-level kidnapping that happened under a governor who controls the state police and local security architecture. To equate the two is to diminish the scale of the Chibok tragedy and dodge accountability for what happened in Oyo.

Makinde wants Nigerians to believe that state governors are powerless without federal authority. But the truth is that state governments have refused to invest in community policing and intelligence gathering. When a kidnapping happens in your state, you cannot blame the federal government and expect voters to forget. Let's argue this. Am I the only one that thinks this comparison is unfair to the Chibok victims and their families?