The Blood on Maiduguri’s Streets and the Silence from Windsor Castle

_By Ayozie Uchechukwu Ronald_

As I write this, the soil of Maiduguri is once again soaked in the blood of innocent Nigerians. Yesterday, March 16, 2026, the silence of the night was shattered by three near-simultaneous suicide bombings. At the gates of the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital—a place of healing—and in the bustling heart of Monday Market, at least 23 citizens were blown to pieces. Over 100 others are currently lying in hospital beds, their bodies riddled with shrapnel, their lives forever altered by a terror that this administration promised to "renew hope" against.

*But where is our President? Where is the "Commander-in-Chief"* when his people are being slaughtered in war-like numbers?

_The Tale of Two Worlds: London Luxury vs. Borno Bloodshed_

While Borno mourns, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has jetted off to London. On the very morning the news of the carnage broke, the President departed for a "historic" state visit to the United Kingdom. While the families of the deceased are identifying mangled corpses, Mr. President is preparing for a carriage procession to Windsor Castle to be hosted by King Charles III.

There is no official statement from the Presidency that matches the gravity of this horror. No national broadcast. No immediate visit to the scene. Just the cold, mechanical hum of a private jet taking our leader away from the suffering of those he swore to protect.

*And where is the Vice President?* Kashim Shettima—a man who once governed Borno and should feel this pain in his marrow—is in Awka, Anambra State. He is not there to condole with the grieving; he is there to attend the second-term swearing-in ceremony of Governor Charles Soludo. The optics are staggering: a celebration in the South, a royal banquet in London, and a graveyard in the North-East.

*A Government of Selective Swiftness*

_We must ask ourselves: why is this government only "swift" when it comes to political conquest?_

Let us not forget that when there was a political impasse in Rivers State, President Tinubu was quick to act with an iron fist. He did not wait for a consensus. He invoked a State of Emergency, suspended an elected Governor, and installed a military sole administrator. When it comes to dismantling the democratic mandate of a perceived political foe, the President is a "lion." But when the enemies of the state—the real terrorists—slaughter 23 Nigerians in a single night, the lion becomes a tourist.

This is the height of insensitivity. It shows a government that values power over people, and political control over human life.

*The Insult of the "City Boys"*

To add salt to our collective wound, while the nation bleeds, the President’s son, Seyi Tinubu, traverses the country with a group known as the "City Boys Movement." While our youths in the North-East are being blown up at hospital gates, these "City Boys" are busy holding rallies and "empowerment" tours, deep in the arrogance of dynastic politics.

Is this the Nigeria we were promised? A country where the President’s family lives in a bubble of luxury and political vanity while the average Nigerian cannot even walk to a market or a hospital without the fear of being vaporized?

*No Nigerian is "Common"*

We must state this clearly: No Nigerian is common. The life of a trader in Monday Market is worth exactly the same as the life of any politician in Aso Rock. No Nigerian is "more Nigerian" than the other. When 23 people die in Maiduguri, the flag should fly at half-mast, and the President should be on the ground, not on a red carpet in Windsor.

The APC government has failed. They have failed on security, they have failed on empathy, and they have failed on every promise made to the Nigerian citizen. We are living in a state of undeclared war, where death has become a daily statistic.

*A Call for a New Direction*

A leader who cannot stay with his people in their darkest hour is not worthy of leading them into the light. A government that prioritizes royal banquets over the burial of its citizens has lost its moral right to govern.

President Tinubu and the APC have shown us who they are: a government of the elite, by the elite, and for the elite. They do not deserve a second chance to lead a country they so clearly do not care for.

Nigeria belongs to us—the people—not to a movement, not to a dynasty, and certainly not to "City Boys" who are deaf to the cries of the grieving.