The presidency on Sunday declared that parts of the failure of the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo are responsible for the current challenges of insecurity facing Nigeria.
The Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Media and Public Communication, Sunday Dare, in a statement on Sunday, condemned what he described as attempts by Obasanjo to paint the Tinubu administration in a bad light and unable to protect Nigerians.
He submitted that instead of castigating the current administration, Obasanjo should use his connections and influence to help Nigeria.
Naijaonpoint reports that Obasanjo, while reacting to the recent security challenges in the country under the current administration, declared that Nigeria must take firm military action and accept international help to halt worsening insecurity.
Obasanjo spoke in Jos, the Plateau State capital, at the Plateau State Unity Christmas Carol and Praise Festival, warning that a diplomacy-heavy response to terrorism signalled weakness when citizens were dying.
However, the presidency, in its response, said the submissions by Obasanjo and others who have spoken in like manner are both hypocritical and ignoble.
The statement added that the call by Obasanjo for the Tinubu administration to submit to international help in order to fight the terrorists is not statesmanship.
Dare added that the incumbent government recognizes the war against insurgency and is deploying both kinetic and non-kinetic efforts in tackling the situation.
According to the presidency, “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 organizing under his watch.
1. Nigeria Is Under Attack by Terrorists – Full Stop! No euphemisms. No soft language.
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 organizations
• 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.
2. Terrorism Took Root on His Watch and Grew Because It Was Not Stopped
“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.
“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.”
Tinubu’s Strategy
Dare insisted that President Tinubu is not shying away from his responsibilities, but is facing the challenges head-on with clear strategies.
He called for unity in the task of combating insecurity.
“President Tinubu is not facing a conventional security challenge. He is confronting terrorism in full-spectrum form, both internal and trans-national. His strategy is clear:
Kinetic Pressure
• Modernizing military capability
• Intensifying intelligence-led operations
• Squeezing terrorist mobility and dismantling logistics
• Retaking and holding territory
Non-Kinetic Dominance
• Restoring governance in underserved and contested zones
• Deploying economic stabilization and community programmes
• Counter-radicalization and reintegration initiatives
• Building trust to deny terrorists the human terrain they exploit
“Because terrorists thrive in division. Nigeria defeats them through unity.
“Nigeria will cooperate internationally, yes, but it will not outsource its security or raise a white flag because someone who once had the chance lost his nerve. Yes. Nigeria needs the support and understanding of the United States and that is already ongoing. And of course the collaboration of other allied nations. The crime at hand is transnational. Every ungoverned space must come under scrutiny,” the presidential media aide stated.
How Obasanjo Can Help
Instead of calling out the Tinubu government, Dare said Obasanjo must first acknowledge the failures of his own administration, and extend a helping hand to the government in power instead of castigating it.
“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.
“If Obasanjo wishes to help, he should acknowledge the past failures that allowed terrorists to gain a foothold, and then support ongoing efforts, not undermine them. Let him put his position and connections at Nigeria’s disposal like he has done for other Countries. Not seek to put down an administration that is fully engaging in many fronts : Economic Turnaround, Providing Security and Building key Infrastructure,” Dare said.
Nigeria Will Defeat Terrorism
The media aide declared boldly that under the Tinubu administration, Nigeria will defeat terrorism.
“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu remains committed to securing every inch of Nigeria by confronting terrorists with strength, unity, and a whole-of-government strategy. Let all patriots join hands now and not raise alarms.
“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,” Dare concluded.
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