A fresh political storm erupted on Sunday after Sunday Dare, President Bola Tinubu’s media adviser, issued a blistering response to former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s criticism of the government’s handling of insecurity.
Obasanjo had spoken in Jos on Friday. He accused the Federal Government of failing to protect Nigerians.
He also said citizens had the right to seek international intervention if killings continued.
His comments triggered political shockwaves. Many Nigerians saw the remarks as a direct indictment of the current administration.
Dare fired back in a lengthy statement titled “Between Tinubu’s Capability and the Ignobility of Pseudo Statesmanship.”
He posted it on his X handle. He accused Obasanjo and what he called “habitual presidential aspirants” of making statements that weaken ongoing security operations.
He said Obasanjo’s position amounted to surrender.
He claimed the former president ignored the complex nature of the security threats facing Nigeria today.
Dare insisted that Obasanjo’s call for foreign intervention was both “hypocritical” and “ignoble.”
According to him, Boko Haram’s early structures emerged under Obasanjo’s watch.
“It is a historical fact that the ideological foundations and early cells of Boko Haram were incubated during Obasanjo’s presidency,” Dare wrote.
He said the group recruited openly, built camps and indoctrinated followers.
He added that Obasanjo’s government missed multiple chances to crush the movement before it became a global terror franchise.
“For the leader under whom the first seeds of terrorism were allowed to germinate to now issue public lectures is not just ironic, it is reckless,” he said.
Dare then defended Tinubu’s security approach.
He said the administration was using sustained military pressure, intelligence-driven operations, community engagement and deradicalisation programmes.
He warned that public statements questioning government capacity could embolden terrorists.
“When former leaders disparage the nation’s capacity, they hand psychological victories to the terrorists kidnapping and killing Nigerians,” he said.
He urged Nigerians to unite behind Tinubu’s security strategy.
According to him, the President remains committed to securing “every inch of the country.”
He said the government was deploying a whole-of-government strategy to defeat violent groups.
“This administration will not be distracted by selective amnesia wrapped in elder-statesmanship,” Dare said.
He added that those who “midwifed” Nigeria’s early security failures would not be allowed to rewrite history