The presidency has responded sharply to former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s recent comments questioning the Tinubu administration’s ability to protect Nigerians, describing the remarks as “hypocritical and ignoble.”
Presidential Spokesman Sunday Dare took to X to set the record straight, saying the nation is facing terrorists of all stripes—local, regional, and international.
“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,” Dare wrote.
The spokesman dismissed suggestions that Nigeria should subcontract its security to foreign powers, calling such ideas “capitulation” and urging Obasanjo to reflect on his own administration’s handling of early terrorist activities.
Dare pointed out that Boko Haram’s ideological foundations and early cells emerged during Obasanjo’s civilian presidency. “It is historical fact that the ideological foundations and early cells of Boko Haram were incubated during Obasanjo’s civilian presidency. While they recruited, indoctrinated, built camps, and flaunted authority, the state failed to act decisively.”
The statement emphasized that what began as a preventable extremist sect eventually transformed into a “violent insurgency, a cross-border terrorist franchise, [and] a regional menace aligned with global jihadist movements.”
The presidency defended President Tinubu’s approach to the complex security challenges Nigeria faces today, stressing a combination of kinetic and non-kinetic measures:
Kinetic Pressure: Modernizing the military, intensifying intelligence-led operations, disrupting terrorist logistics, and retaking occupied territories.
Non-Kinetic Dominance: Restoring governance in underserved areas, launching economic stabilization and community programs, and implementing counter-radicalization initiatives.
“Because terrorists thrive in division, Nigeria defeats them through unity,” Dare said, highlighting that the administration’s approach is comprehensive, collaborative, and national in scope.
The statement also criticized former leaders who publicly question Nigeria’s capabilities. “When former leaders disparage the nation’s capacity, they hand psychological victories to the very terrorists murdering, kidnapping, and extorting Nigerians—terrorising Nigerians in plain language. A real statesman offers support, not soundbites.”
Dare concluded with a call for national unity and reassurance of the administration’s resolve. “President Bola Ahmed Tinubu remains committed to securing every inch of Nigeria by confronting terrorists with strength, unity, and a whole-of-government strategy… This administration will not be distracted by selective amnesia wrapped in elder-statesmanship, nor will it allow those who midwifed Nigeria’s early security failures to rewrite history.”