Presidency fires back at Obasanjo, says terrorism took root under his administration

Presidency Fires Back at Obasanjo, Says Terrorism Took Root Under His Administration

The Presidency has strongly criticised former President Olusegun Obasanjo, arguing that he lacks the moral authority to attack President Bola Tinubu over Nigeria’s worsening security situation, insisting that terrorism in Nigeria began to take root during Obasanjo’s own tenure.

In a statement posted on X by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Public Communication, Sunday Dare, the Presidency condemned Obasanjo’s suggestion that Tinubu should seek foreign intervention if unable to address the nation’s security challenges. It described the idea of outsourcing Nigeria’s internal security as “capitulation,” not statesmanship.

In the post titled “Between Tinubu’s capability and the ignobility of pseudo statesmanship,” the Presidency accused Obasanjo of “selective amnesia,” stating that those who “midwifed Nigeria’s early security failures” cannot now rewrite history.

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Dare stated that Obasanjo and other critics painting the Tinubu administration as incapable of protecting Nigerians were being “hypocritical,” stressing that Nigeria is currently battling a complex and multilayered network of terrorist groups, including international jihadi franchises, local extremist groups masquerading as bandits, and cross-border terror cells exploiting porous frontiers.

According to the Presidency, these groups collaborate by sharing weapons, funds, ideology and logistics, all with the aim of destabilising the Nigerian state. “Let’s call them what they all are: terrorists,” the statement emphasised.

The Presidency alleged that the foundations of Boko Haram were laid during Obasanjo’s civilian administration, claiming that early extremist cells were allowed to grow unchecked. What began as a “preventable sect,” it said, later evolved into a violent insurgency and a regional menace aligned with global jihadist movements.

“For the leader under whom the first seeds of terrorism were allowed to sprout to now lecture a sitting President confronting the consequences is the height of irony,” the Presidency asserted.

It added that the Tinubu administration would not be distracted by comments it described as neither sincere nor statesmanlike.

Presidency fires back at Obasanjo, says terrorism took root under his administration