A Senior Fellow at the Centre for Democracy and Development, Prof Jibrin Ibrahim, has said President Bola Tinubu is performing worse on insecurity than former President Goodluck Jonathan, whom Tinubu openly criticised during the 2014 schoolchildren abductions.
Naijaonpoint reports that Ibrahim made the assertion on Friday, December 12, while featuring on Prime Time, a programme aired on Arise Television.
According to him, Tinubu’s record on security has fallen short of expectations, especially considering his earlier criticism of Jonathan during his time in office.
The democracy expert recalled how Tinubu had been vocal in condemning Jonathan over school abductions but has now found himself facing an even graver security situation.
“Buhari came and proved totally incapable of ending insecurity. Tinubu criticised Jonathan for school abductions and has found himself at the helm of affairs and performing worse than Jonathan did,” Ibrahim said.
He added that the current administration’s handling of insecurity has further deepened the suffering of Nigerians.
Ibrahim described the past year as extremely challenging for citizens, noting that while Nigerians had endured difficult years before, the present situation stood out for troubling reasons.
“I think it’s been a very difficult year for Nigerians, but the fact of the matter is that many of the preceding years have been equally difficult on Nigerians,” he said.
“What marks this year is the glaring inability, or some would say the unwillingness of the Nigerian state to carry out its constitutional responsibility of providing for the security and welfare of Nigerians.”
Tracing the roots of the crisis, Ibrahim noted that insecurity has continued to worsen since 2009, with no meaningful reversal in sight.
“Since 2009, how do we explain the fact that each year, insecurity continues to grow, and the number of people, civilians with arms, using these arms against communities, against road users, against even the military and the police themselves, clearly indicates a sustained lack of effort on the part of the Nigerian state to carry out its constitutional responsibility,” he said.
The CDD fellow warned that the unchecked spread of arms among civilians had further emboldened criminals and deepened violence across the country.
“The fact of the matter is that once you have people who have no rights to arms, procuring arms and then finding out they could use those arms with impunity, that problem is bound to increase,” Ibrahim stated.
Ibrahim also reflected on the optimism that greeted the emergence of the late former President Muhammadu Buhari, a retired Army General, noting that many Nigerians believed insecurity would be tackled decisively under his leadership.
“We have had many moments of hope that the tide will turn. When Buhari came, many of us felt the tide would turn. This is a tough Army General. He will deal with them. He did nothing of that. He proved totally incapable of doing that,” he said.
Ibrahim described Nigeria’s insecurity crisis as a painful and unsettling story, lamenting the absence of a government with the resolve and competence to address it.
“So it’s a very sad tale. The narrative is extremely disturbing, and the problem we all face as Nigerians is that we are yet to see a government that has both the will, the determination and the know-how to attack this problem of rising insecurity,” the Democrat added.
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