The Presidency has answered former President Olusegun Obasanjo, saying he lacks the standing to fault President Bola Tinubu over the country’s worsening security.
At an event in Jos, Plateau State, Mr Obasanjo voiced deep concern about rising insecurity and suggested that Nigerians might seek foreign help because the government has not done enough to protect them.
The Presidency responded by saying that terrorism began to take hold during Mr Obasanjo’s time in office and that some of today’s problems are linked to that period.
The government also criticised Mr Obasanjo for proposing that President Tinubu should ask foreign nations for help if he cannot solve Nigeria’s security problems. It called the idea an abdication of responsibility and said seeking outside intervention is not proper leadership.
The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Public Communication, Sunday Dare, posted the response on his verified X account.
“Recent comments by a former President and a few habitual presidential aspirants attempting to paint the Tinubu administration as ‘unable to protect Nigerians’ are not merely hypocritical but ignoble. They ignore the hard truth: Nigeria is facing terrorists. All of them. By every definition, be they international, regional, or local.
“Yet the very individuals who looked away when these threats first sprouted now want to sit in judgment. Nigerians know better.
“The suggestion that Nigeria should effectively subcontract its internal security to foreign governments is not statesmanship; it is capitulation. Before recommending surrender, the former President should reflect on what he failed to do when these terrorists first began organising under his watch,” the statement said.
The Presidency stressed that the crisis is plainly a terrorist threat and that no softer term should be used.
“The people killing Nigerians, raiding villages, kidnapping innocents, blowing up infrastructure and challenging state authority are terrorists, whether they fly a foreign flag or none at all.
“Nigeria today confronts a multilayered terrorist ecosystem that includes: Internationally designated terror organisations; ISIS-linked and al-Qaeda-linked franchises across the Sahel; Local violent extremist groups masquerading as bandits; Cross-border terrorist cells exploiting porous frontiers; Ideological insurgents and criminal-terror hybrids operating in ungoverned spaces.
“These actors collaborate. They share money, ideology, weapons, intelligence and logistics. Their goal is the same: to break the Nigerian state and subjugate its people. Let’s call them what they all are: terrorists,” The Presidency stated.
The statement said it is a historical fact that the early signs and cells of Boko Haram grew during Mr Obasanjo’s civilian presidency and that the state did not act quickly enough as the group organised and spread.
“It is a historical fact that the ideological seeds and early cells of Boko Haram were nurtured during Obasanjo’s civilian presidency. As they recruited, indoctrinated, established camps, and openly challenged authority, the state failed to act with the necessary urgency.”
“What began as a preventable extremist sect transformed into: A violent insurgency; A cross-border terrorist franchise; A regional menace aligned with global jihadist movements.
“For the leader under whom the first seeds of terrorism were allowed to germinate to now issue public lectures is not just ironic, it is reckless.”
The Presidency said Nigeria will work with other countries where needed but will not hand over its security or its sovereignty.
“Nigeria will cooperate internationally, yes, but it will not raise a white flag because someone who once had the chance lost his nerve,” the statement asserted.
“Nigeria needs the support and understanding of the United States, and that cooperation is already underway,” the Presidency added.
“Of course, the collaboration of other allied nations is also crucial. The crime at hand is transnational, and every ungoverned space must come under scrutiny.”
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