…Tells FG to stop negotiating with terrorists
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has delivered one of his most forceful indictments yet of the Federal Government’s handling of insecurity, declaring that Nigeria’s persistent inability to protect its citizens now justifies seeking help from the international community.
Speaking on Friday at the Plateau State Unity Christmas Carol and Praise Festival in Jos, the former president said the scale and frequency of killings, kidnappings and terror attacks show that the country’s security system has “failed woefully”, leaving citizens vulnerable and fearful.
“Insecurity has been with us for years, but what we have witnessed since the Chibok girls’ kidnapping is a continuous decline, from bad to worse. The primary responsibility of any government is the protection of lives and property. When a government cannot deliver that, citizens have the right to seek help from the international community”, he stated.
Obasanjo warned that violence should not be framed as a religious or ethnic conflict, describing such narratives as ‘nonsensical’ and dangerous. “We are being killed as Nigerians – not as Christians or Muslims, not as northerners or southerners. To justify killings by saying people from other groups are also killed is unacceptable. The state must step in decisively”, he said.
The former president also issued a stern message to the Federal Government: halt all negotiations with terrorists and instead deploy Nigeria’s available technology and international partnerships to dismantle criminal networks.
“Before I left office, we could identify and locate anyone who committed a crime anywhere in Nigeria, but we lacked the capacity to immediately apprehend them”, he said. “Now we have the technology. With drones, we can take them out. Why are we not doing that? Why are we negotiating?”
His remarks follow a series of disturbing security incidents. In recent weeks, over 200 schoolchildren were abducted in Niger and Kebbi states, while bandits in Kwara live-streamed the attack, and abduction of worshippers inside a church. This week alone, 24 farmers – including pregnant women – were kidnapped in Niger State’s Palaita community, while attacks in Kano and Kwara saw at least 20 people seized between Monday night and Tuesday morning.
The violence has continued unabated. On Tuesday, 10 more people – among them a pregnant woman, nursing mothers and children – were abducted in Isapa, near Eruku in Kwara State.
Obasanjo said Nigeria has no excuse for allowing terrorists and bandits to operate freely when modern surveillance, intelligence and combat tools are available.
While urging Nigerians to remain prayerful, Obasanjo said communities, political leaders and security agencies must take concrete action. “We must pray, but we must also work. Governments at all levels must do what is necessary to stop the violence”, he stressed.
His comments come amid heightening public frustration with the government’s approach to tackling insecurity, especially its continued negotiation with armed groups – a strategy Obasanjo insists is counterproductive and emboldens criminals.
