The Presidency has launched a blistering counter‑attack on former President Olusegun Obasanjo, accusing him of hypocrisy and “ignoble pseudo‑statesmanship” after he suggested Nigeria should invite foreign forces to fight terrorism because the current government is “incapable” of protecting citizens.
In a strongly worded statement issued Sunday by Special Adviser on Media and Public Communication, Sunday Dare, the Tinubu administration rejected Obasanjo’s advice as tantamount to “capitulation.”
The statement asserts that after all the seeds of Boko Haram were sown and allowed to germinate during Obasanjo’s civilian presidency between 1999 and 2007.
“Before recommending that Nigeria subcontract its sovereignty and internal security to foreign powers, Chief Obasanjo should first reflect on what he failed to do when these terrorists were organizing, recruiting, indoctrinating, building camps and openly defying state authority right under his watch,” Dare wrote.
Presidency’s Rebuke
The statement argued that Boko Haram’s ideological foundations and earliest cells were incubated during Obasanjo’s tenure which ran from 1999-2007, evolving from a preventable extremist sect into a full‑blown insurgency aligned with global jihadist movements.
“For the very leader under whose watch the first seeds of modern terrorism in Nigeria were planted to now lecture the nation on incapacity is not just ironic — it is reckless and hypocritical,” Dare added.
The sharp rebuke followed Obasanjo’s remarks at a Christmas Carol in Jos, Plateau State, where he declared that Nigerians were being killed daily and that the government appeared incapable of protecting them.
He suggested that Nigeria had the right to invite the international community to intervene if the government failed.
Defense of Tinubu’s Security Strategy
Dare dismissed the idea of outsourcing Nigeria’s security as a dangerous surrender of sovereignty, warning that disparagement from elder statesmen only hands “psychological victories” to terrorists.
He insisted that President Bola Tinubu is confronting a complex, inherited threat through sustained military operations, intelligence‑led strikes, restoration of governance in liberated areas, deradicalization programmes, and community engagement.
“When former leaders who midwifed Nigeria’s earliest security failures now suffer selective amnesia wrapped in the cloak of elder‑statesmanship, they do the nation a disservice,” Dare said.
He urged Obasanjo to acknowledge past lapses and place his experience and international connections at Nigeria’s disposal, rather than undermine current efforts.
“President Tinubu remains resolute: every inch of Nigerian territory will be secured. This administration will not be distracted by those seeking to rewrite history or diminish the morale of our armed forces and citizens,” the statement concluded.
The exchange is one in series of escalating rhetorics between the Tinubu government and opposition figures, especially former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, expected to challenge Tinubu in 2027 polls, who have consistently called out the administration’s handling of rising banditry, terrorism, and kidnappings across the country, its management of economic affairs.
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