Former Sports Minister, Solomon Dalung, has accused the Bola Tinubu-led administration of lacking the political will to confront Nigeria’s worsening insecurity, saying the government is more focused on the 2027 politics than on protecting lives lost to terrorism and kidnappings.
Speaking on a television programme on Friday, Dalung delivered a sharp critique of the government’s security response and overall leadership record.
He said, “The government seems not to have the political will to deal with it. They have all the gadgets to track anybody who criticises the government — they can pick him up in the next five minutes. But they don’t have equipment to track terrorists who display huge phones in the forest, behead teachers, abduct schoolchildren, torture them in the forest, produce videos and send”.
He dismissed the Information Minister’s recent call for unity against terrorism, calling it a sign of deeper failure. “I think it’s a statement confirming that the federal government has completely and woefully failed. They don’t seem to have any idea of a solution to the ravaging insecurity that is across the country”, he stated.
Dalung stated that the security architecture was fragmented, with agencies working in silos rather than as a coordinated force. He also warned that terrorists were now operating what he described as a ‘parallel forest economy’, sustaining themselves independently of the state.
He also described President Tinubu’s three-year performance as disappointing, accusing the administration of rhetoric without impact. “Three years into his tenure, it is just a blame game and rhetoric of reforms — reforms that no single iota of the benefit has trickled down. Rather, Nigerians are getting impoverished daily. The economy is in doldrums. Insecurity remains rhetorical”, he said.
On politics ahead of 2027, Dalung said Nigeria had returned to regional power blocs and warned of electoral uncertainty.
