The Presidency on Sunday said that some of the failures of former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration are partly responsible for the insecurity Nigeria faces today.
Obasanjo, speaking at an event in Jos, Plateau State, on Friday, had expressed deep concern over Nigeria’s worsening security situation. He suggested that Nigerians have the right to seek foreign intervention, arguing that the government has failed to adequately protect its citizens.
However, the Federal Government countered that terrorism began to take root under Obasanjo’s leadership, insisting that many of today’s security challenges originated during his time in office.
Responding, Sunday Dare, Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Media and Public Communication, criticised the former president’s remarks, describing them as an attempt to portray the Tinubu administration as unable to protect Nigerians. According to him, such comments are not only hypocritical but “ignoble,” as they ignore the hard truth that Nigeria is confronting terrorists—international, regional, and local.
Dare said those who “looked away when these threats first sprouted now want to sit in judgment,” adding that Nigerians understand the situation better.
He also condemned Obasanjo’s suggestion that Nigeria should effectively outsource its internal security to foreign governments, calling it an act of capitulation rather than statesmanship. Before proposing such a course, he said, the former president should reflect on what he failed to address when terrorist groups first began to organize under his watch.
1. Nigeria Is Under Attack by Terrorists — Full Stop
According to Dare, those killing Nigerians, raiding communities, kidnapping citizens, destroying infrastructure, and challenging state authority are terrorists, regardless of whether they are linked to foreign groups or operate independently.
Nigeria, he noted, currently faces a multilayered terrorist ecosystem consisting of:
• Internationally designated terror groups
• ISIS- and al-Qaeda-linked franchises in the Sahel
• Local extremist groups posing as bandits
• Cross-border cells exploiting porous borders
• Insurgent and criminal-terror networks operating in ungoverned spaces
These actors, he said, collaborate by sharing funds, ideology, weapons, intelligence, and logistics, all with a single objective: to break the Nigerian state and subjugate its people.
2. Terrorism Took Root Under Obasanjo
Dare argued that the ideological foundations and early cells of Boko Haram were incubated during Obasanjo’s civilian presidency. During that period, he said, the group recruited, indoctrinated, built camps, and challenged state authority without decisive action from the government.
What began as a preventable extremist sect, he said, eventually transformed into a violent insurgency, a cross-border terror franchise, and a regional menace aligned with global jihadist movements. For the leader who allowed these early seeds to grow to now lecture the nation, Dare added, is “not just ironic but reckless.”
3. Tinubu’s Strategy Meets the Threat Head-On
Dare emphasized that President Tinubu is confronting a complex, full-spectrum terrorism threat—both domestic and transnational. The administration’s strategy, he said, includes:
Kinetic Measures
• Modernizing military capabilities
• Intensifying intelligence-led missions
• Disrupting terrorist mobility and logistics
• Retaking and holding vulnerable territories
Non-Kinetic Measures
• Restoring governance in underserved and conflict-affected areas
• Rolling out economic stabilization programmes
• Counter-radicalization and reintegration efforts
• Community engagement to deny terrorists local support
A Whole-of-Government, Whole-of-Nation Approach
He said terrorists thrive in division, while Nigeria defeats them through unity.
Sovereignty First
Nigeria will cooperate with the United States and other allied nations, he noted, but will not outsource its security or “raise a white flag.” Every ungoverned space, he said, must come under scrutiny.
4. Leaders Who Undermine Nigeria Strengthen Terrorists
Dare warned that when former leaders disparage Nigeria’s capacity, they grant psychological victories to terrorists. A genuine statesman, he said, offers support—not damaging soundbites.
If Obasanjo wishes to assist, Dare suggested, he should acknowledge the failures that allowed terrorism to take root and contribute constructively to ongoing efforts. He urged the former president to deploy his influence and global connections in support of Nigeria, rather than denigrating an administration actively working on economic reforms, security restoration, and infrastructure development.
5. Under Tinubu, Nigeria Will Defeat Terrorism
According to Dare, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu remains committed to securing every inch of Nigeria through a unified, comprehensive strategy. He called on all patriots to support these efforts and avoid raising unnecessary alarms.
The administration, he said, will not be distracted by “selective amnesia wrapped in elder statesmanship,” nor allow those who presided over Nigeria’s early security failures to rewrite history.
