The Presidency on Sunday rejected suggestions that Nigeria should hand over its internal security to foreign governments, describing such calls as capitulation.
In a rebuttal aimed at former President Olusegun Obasanjo, it defended President Bola Tinubu’s strategies against terrorism, saying they are yielding results.
In a post on his official X handle on Sunday, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Communication, Sunday Dare, said attempts to portray the Tinubu administration as unable to protect Nigerians were ignoble, insisting that the country is confronting real terrorists.
Dare noted, “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.”
Sunday’s reaction comes days after Obasanjo, on Friday, said Nigerians have the right to seek help from the international community if the government fails in its constitutional duty to protect them.
He made the comments in Jos at the Plateau State Unity Christmas Carol and Praise Festival, amid a surge of killings and kidnappings in the last week.
Obasanjo argued that the scale and persistence of violence show Nigeria’s security system is no longer capable of confronting current threats and that international intervention would be justified.
He also urged the Federal Government to stop negotiating with terrorists and take more decisive action.
However, the Presidency faulted Obasanjo, saying his comments were not statesmanlike.
“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,” it said.
Dare reasoned that those now offering lectures looked away when these threats first sprouted, insisting Nigerians know better.
“Yet the very individuals who looked away when these threats first sprouted now want to sit in judgment. Nigerians know better,” he stated.
The Presidency argued that the killers of villagers, kidnappers of innocent Nigerians, bombers of infrastructure and challengers of state authority are terrorists, whether or not they carry a flag.
It said, “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.”
It listed what it called a multilayered ecosystem: internationally designated terror groups, ISIS- and al-Qaeda-linked Sahel franchises, local violent extremists “masquerading as bandits,” cross-border cells exploiting porous frontiers, and ideological insurgents blending crime and terror in ungoverned spaces.
“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; and ideological insurgents and criminal-terror hybrids operating in ungoverned spaces.”
“These actors collaborate. They share money, ideology, weapons, intelligence, and logistics.
