Former presidential spokesman and veteran journalist, Reuben Abati, has defended Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde’s call for a United Nations investigation into the alleged kidnapping incident in Orire, saying similar international interventions had occurred in Nigeria in the past.
Speaking on Arise Television’s Morning Show on Wednesday, Abati dismissed claims that the UN had no role in such matters, citing previous cases involving the Chibok and Kankara school abductions.
His comments came amid the controversy surrounding Governor Makinde’s call for the United Nations to investigate the Orire kidnapping saga in Oyo State.
According to him, following the abduction of the Chibok schoolgirls, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women set up a committee to examine the incident.
He added that the UN Committee on Human Rights also looked into the Kankara school abduction, stressing that such interventions reflect the international community’s concern for humanitarian issues.
Abati, however, said criticism usually arises only when domestic political disagreements are taken to the international stage.
Drawing parallels with the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan, Abati recalled that prominent figures in the then-opposition strongly criticised the government over insecurity.
He said the former Minister of Information and National Orientation, Lai Mohammed, who was then the spokesperson of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, had called for Jonathan to be prosecuted by the International Criminal Court over the handling of the Baga killings.
Abati also claimed that President Bola Tinubu, then governor of Lagos State, publicly declared that the Jonathan administration
