Terrorism took root on your watch – Presidency hits Obasanjo

From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja

Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Media and Communication, Sunday Dare, has lambasted former President Olusegun Obasanjo over his recent remarks that the current administration was incapable of protecting Nigerians amid escalating insecurity.

In a post on his X handle @SundayDareSD, the former minister dismissed Obasanjo’s call for international intervention as ‘capitulation and ignoble,’ insisting that Nigeria confronts a sophisticated terrorist ecosystem head-on under Tinubu’s leadership.

The exchange erupted after Obasanjo, speaking at a Christmas Carol event in Jos on Friday, declared that Nigerians had the right to seek foreign help if the government failed to curb rampant killings, kidnappings and attacks by terrorists and bandits.

He urged the Tinubu administration to stop apologising and negotiating with terrorists, highlighting recent abductions of over 200 schoolchildren in Niger and Kebbi states, a live-streamed church attack in Kwara and the execution of a Brigadier General in Borno.

Dare’s detailed thread, titled “Between Tinubu’s capability and the ignobility of pseudo statesmanship,” accused Obasanjo of hypocrisy for ignoring how Boko Haram’s ideological foundations and early cells germinated during his 1999-2007 presidency.

“The very individuals who looked away when these threats first sprouted now want to sit in judgment. Nigerians know better,” Dare wrote.

“It is a historical fact that while they recruited, indoctrinated, built camps and flaunted authority, the state failed to act decisively.”

He outlined Nigeria’s security woes as a multilayered terrorist ecosystem involving ISIS-linked groups, al-Qaeda franchises, local bandits and cross-border cells that collaborate to break the Nigerian state. Dare defended Tinubu’s ‘full-spectrum’ response.

“Kinetic Pressure via modernised military ops and intelligence; Non-Kinetic dominance through governance restoration and counter-radicalisation, and a whole-of-government, whole-of-nation approach prioritising sovereignty.

“Nigeria will cooperate internationally, yes, but it will not outsource its security or raise a white flag,” he stressed, noting ongoing US support.

He warned that leaders like Obasanjo, who disparage the nation’s capacity, grant psychological victories to terrorists.

“A real statesman offers support, not soundbites,” he charged, urging Obasanjo to acknowledge the past failures and then support ongoing efforts by leveraging his connections, as he has for other countries.

“Under Tinubu, Nigeria will defeat terrorism. Let all patriots join hands now and not raise alarms,” he concluded.