Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has condemned the Nigerian government’s perceived failure to protect its citizens and called for immediate action, including the use of modern technology to eliminate criminals.
During his address on Friday at the Plateau State Unity Christmas Carol, Obasanjo lamented the widespread insecurity across the nation, stressing that Nigerians from all backgrounds are equally affected by the violence.
He said, “In this country today, one problem we have is insecurity, and it has been with us, not beginning with this administration, and not even with the administration before it.
“I believe the mass and mindless killings, kidnappings, and banditry that we have experienced since the kidnapping of the Chibok girls have continued to go from bad to worse.
“No matter what religion you belong to, no matter where you come from, no matter what profession, we Nigerians have been killed, and our government seem to be incapable of protecting us.
“And for anybody to say because those who are being killed belong to this region, belong to this religion, belong to this tribe, and then others too are being killed, cannot be an acceptable excuse.”
Challenging the government’s competence, Obasanjo argued that if the state cannot fulfil its primary duty of protection, citizens are justified in seeking external help.
“We are part of the world community. If our government cannot do it, we have a right to call on the international community to do for us what our government cannot do for us,” he asserted.
He continued, “If we are being killed, it is the responsibility of the government to do something about it. The government should stop the killing of Nigerians, no matter what religion they belong to, no matter what part of the world they belong to, no matter what tribe they belong to.
“We, as Nigerians, have a right to appeal to the international community to help where the government cannot help us, and we should have no apology for that.
“We will continue to pray, but we should also work. We should do what we have to do and ask our leaders to do what they have to do at all levels to preserve lives in this country.”
The former president also questioned the security agencies’ hesitation to deploy modern technology to track and neutralise armed groups.
He noted that during his administration, Nigeria had the intelligence capacity to identify criminals anywhere in the country, but lacked the technology to carry out remote operations.
He argued that Nigeria now has such capacity, yet does not use it effectively.
“Before I left government, I knew we had the capacity to pick up anybody in Nigeria who committed a crime anywhere.
“The capacity that we didn’t have then is that after we have identified and located such a criminal, we have no capacity to be able to pick him up without moving on land or by air.
“Now we have capacity. With drones, you can flip them off. You can take them out. Why are we not doing that? Why are we apologising? Why are we negotiating?” he asked.
Obasanjo’s comments add to growing pressure on the Federal Government to reassess its security strategy amid the recent rise in attacks and abductions in the country.
PUNCH Online reports that the 2023 Labour Party vice-presidential candidate, Datti Baba-Ahmed, faulted President Bola Tinubu’s nationwide security emergency, insisting that the administration “missed the point.”
Baba-Ahmed said that the Nigeria Police Force—if freed from corruption and political interference—can end terrorism and banditry on its own.
He also faulted Tinubu’s advice to state governments to reconsider establishing boarding schools in remote or poorly secured areas, saying that such a move would amount to allowing bandits to dictate national policy.
Meanwhile, the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, has disclosed that security agencies are fully aware of the identities and locations of the bandit groups responsible for recent mass abductions.
He, however, stressed that the government cannot simply launch airstrikes on the identified enclaves because “our people are living around where they operate. So you can’t just go there.”
“They need to be very careful that in the course of chasing these bandits, they don’t go and bomb innocent Nigerians,” he said.