By Abiola Olawale
The Presidency has criticised former President Olusegun Obasanjo, directly challenging his recent critiques on the nation’s security crisis.
In a statement issued on Sunday, the Presidency asserted that the foundation of terrorism and extremist violence in Nigeria was laid during Obasanjo’s tenure, dismissing the narrative that the current administration inherited a peaceful, terror-free nation.
The official statement, signed by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Public Communication, Sunday Dare, was a direct response to Obasanjo’s recent public call for the government to end negotiations with terrorists and adopt a more aggressive, forceful military strategy.
The Presidency also lampooned Chief Obasanjo over his comment that President Tinubu should seek foreign help if he is unable to address the nation’s security challenges, saying that calling for Nigeria to subcontract its internal security to foreign governments is not an act of statesmanship.
The statement reads in part: “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 organising under his watch.
“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 organisations; 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.”
Alleging that terrorism took root during Chief Obasanjo’s administration because it was not halted early, the Presidency added: “It is a 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 sprout, attempting to lecture a sitting President who is confronting the consequences is the height of irony.”
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