The Presidency has criticised former President Olusegun Obasanjo, claiming that terrorism first took root in Nigeria during his tenure.
Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Media and Public Communication, Mr. Sunday Dare, made the comments on his verified X account on Sunday, asserting that Obasanjo is not in a position to criticise Tinubu over the country’s worsening security situation.
The remarks follow Obasanjo’s call for Nigeria to seek foreign assistance if the Tinubu administration is unable to address the nation’s security challenges. The former president’s suggestion to subcontract internal security to foreign governments, the Presidency said, is not an act of statesmanship.
Dare said the former president should reflect on the alleged failures of his administration when terrorist networks first began to emerge.
“This administration will not be distracted by selective amnesia wrapped in elder-statesmanship, nor will it allow those who midwifed Nigeria’s early security failures to rewrite history. 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,” Dare wrote.
He added, “These individuals looked away when threats first emerged, yet now seek to sit in judgment. Nigerians know better. The suggestion that Nigeria should subcontract its internal security to foreign governments is capitulation, not statesmanship. Before recommending surrender, the former President should reflect on what he failed to do when these terrorists first began organising under his watch.”