The Federal Government has declared that the protection of all citizens is non-negotiable.

The National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, stated this at the conclusion of the first session of the U.S.–Nigeria Joint Working Group, held in Abuja, to address concerns around religious freedom and insecurity.

Ribadu asserted that any violence framed along religious lines will be treated as a direct attack on the Nigerian state.

He reaffirmed that the protection of all citizens, Christians, Muslims, and adherents of other faiths is non-negotiable.

“Nigeria is a deeply plural society, and the protection of all citizens, Christians, Muslims, and those of other beliefs, is non-negotiable.

“Violence framed along religious lines is treated as an attack on the Nigerian state itself,” Ribadu said.

He said the government’s response to insecurity goes beyond military action, combining security operations with the rule of law, humanitarian safeguards, and strategic communication to ensure that operational successes translate into public confidence and stronger social cohesion.

“Our response integrates security operations, rule of law, humanitarian safeguards, and strategic communication, ensuring that operational successes translate into public confidence and strengthened social cohesion,” he added.

Meanwhile, the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, has questioned the growing wave of insecurity in Nigeria, lamenting that it should not be.

According to Obi, the government is to be blamed for allowing insecurity to grow unchecked and unchallenged.

Speaking against the recent conflicting reports of another abduction of worshippers from a church in Kaduna, the former Anambra State Governor insisted that the frequency of such reports and happenings shows there is a crisis of safety, unity and leadership.

He cited examples of other communities around the country where there have been confirmed cases of insecurity and called on the government to wake up to its responsibility of protecting the lives and properties of citizens.

He again criticized reports that the government of President Bola Tinubu paid millions of dollars to a foreign lobbying firm to launder the administration’s image on the international scene.

“Just recently, other communities in Benue, Zamfara, Kano, Niger and Plateau, have faced similarly gruesome insecurity. Nigeria is not at war, yet here we are again, counting victims with inconsistencies that surpass those of nations at war. A government that can mobilise resources for waste, for propaganda, for foreign lobbyists, but cannot secure communities or protect its people has misplaced its priorities.

“I have just been informed that yet again, at the weekend, about 172 worshippers were abducted from churches in Kaduna. This is yet another unfortunate consequence of a nation where insecurity has been allowed to grow, unchecked and unchallenged in our everyday lives, as though it were normal. This should not be.

“Even with the government and police stating they are not aware of this incident, we must ask ourselves hard questions. Is this how we will continue? Can we keep waking up to news of mass abductions, disputed figures, and official denials while citizens live in fear? Whether confirmed or contested, the frequency of such reports alone shows a greater crisis of safety, leadership, and unity.

“To the people of Kaduna, you are not alone. We stand with you, and to the families whose loved ones were taken, we share in your pain. We pray and hope that those abducted will be found and returned safely, and that those injured in the course of this attack receive swift and full medical recovery.

“If the denials are true, we thank God Almighty. if untrue, we stand with the families of those affected and urge the relevant authorities to take swift action.

“Nigeria deserves a government that treats human life as sacred, the time to confront this insecurity is now.

“A New Nigeria is POssible. -PO,” Obi wrote in a statement released on Tuesday via his 𝕏 account.

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