‘Terrorists Are Learning, Why Isn’t Your Government?’ — Atiku Faults Tinubu’s Security Strategy

Former Vice President and presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has challenged President Bola Tinubu’s administration over what he described as its failure to proactively confront Nigeria’s evolving security threats, asking why terrorists appeared to be learning and improving their methods while the government remained stuck in outdated approaches.

Atiku made the remarks in a statement titled ‘Atiku Lectures Tinubu: Terrorists Are Learning. Why Isn’t Your Government?’ issued on Thursday, and signed by the former Vice President’s Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu.

The opposition leader warned that the growing spread of terrorism, banditry and kidnapping from northern Nigeria to other parts of the country demonstrated that the nation’s current counterterrorism framework was failing to evolve at the same pace as the threats confronting it.

According to him, Nigeria can no longer afford a business-as-usual approach to security, insisting that the country’s security architecture must be urgently recalibrated to address a threat environment that has become more sophisticated, decentralised and geographically expansive.

“The terrorists are learning from every attack. They study their successes and failures. They refine their tactics. They identify vulnerabilities. They adapt and strike again,” Atiku said.

“The question Nigerians must ask is simple: Why isn’t the government doing the same?

“From Chibok to Oyo, from countless villages in the North-West to communities across the Middle Belt and beyond, the pattern has become tragically familiar. An attack occurs. The nation mourns. Promises are made. Committees are announced. Then another attack follows.”

He lamented that successive attacks across the country have revealed an inability by government institutions to draw lessons from previous incidents and use them to prevent future occurrences.

“A nation that refuses to learn from its tragedies is condemned to relive them,” he stated.

“The disturbing expansion of banditry, terrorism, and kidnapping across different parts of the country clearly demonstrates that our current counterterrorism framework is no longer adequate for the scale and complexity of the challenge before us.”

Atiku argued that Nigeria’s security efforts have relied excessively on centrally designed and often imported frameworks that pay little attention to the experiences of communities that have directly suffered terrorist violence.

He stressed the need for an immediate review of the National Counterterrorism Policy, saying any review must be rooted in Nigeria’s unique realities and experiences.

“It is now imperative that the Federal Government immediately initiates a comprehensive review of Nigeria’s National Counterterrorism Policy. Such a review must be rooted in Nigeria’s own experiences, drawing lessons from communities that have suffered attacks and developing context-specific, adaptive, and community-driven solutions rather than depending largely on foreign templates,” he said.

Recalling the 2014 abduction of the Chibok schoolgirls in Borno State, Atiku argued that Nigeria had failed to adequately learn from one of its darkest security crises.

“We went through the harrowing tragedy of the Chibok schoolgirls’ abduction. The pain of that national trauma remains etched permanently in our collective memory. Yet years later, schoolchildren and teachers are still being abducted in different parts of the country.

“We ought to have drawn critical lessons and early warning indicators from Chibok and other similar incidents to ensure that what recently happened in Oyo State and elsewhere never happened again.”

The ADC presidential candidate proposed the establishment of a Terrorism Violence Peer Review Mechanism, which he said would provide a platform for affected communities, local leaders, security personnel and other stakeholders to exchange experiences and contribute practical solutions to national security planning.

According to him, such a mechanism would strengthen grassroots intelligence gathering, improve early warning systems, enhance community resilience and deepen collaboration between citizens and security agencies.

Atiku also called for a fundamental restructuring of Nigeria’s security architecture, advocating a multi-layered counterterrorism strategy driven by intelligence, technology, community participation and the disruption of terror financing networks.

“The battle against terrorism cannot be won solely through military deployments. While kinetic operations remain necessary, the government must aggressively target the financial lifelines of terrorist groups. We must identify and dismantle the networks that fund, equip, transport, and shelter these criminal elements,” he said.

“Every successful counterterrorism campaign around the world has relied heavily on intelligence superiority. Nigeria must therefore invest massively in intelligence gathering, surveillance technology, aerial monitoring systems, communication interception capabilities, and data-driven threat analysis.”

He further urged the government to establish specialised Counterterrorism Fusion Centres in each geopolitical zone to facilitate real-time intelligence sharing among the military, police, Department of State Services, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, immigration authorities, customs officials, local vigilantes and community leaders.

Atiku also expressed concern over Nigeria’s porous borders, which he said have become channels for the movement of terrorists, arms traffickers and transnational criminal groups.

“A nation that cannot effectively monitor who enters and exits its territory will continue to face serious security vulnerabilities,” he warned.

The former vice president argued that terrorism flourishes in environments characterised by poverty, unemployment, illiteracy and government neglect, urging authorities to invest heavily in education, youth employment and rural development programmes.

“We must recognise that terrorism is not merely a security challenge; it is also a governance challenge,” he said.

“Government must therefore invest in education, youth employment, rural development, and targeted rehabilitation programmes in vulnerable communities. It is far cheaper to prevent radicalisation than to fight insurgency after it has taken root.”

Atiku also proposed the creation of a National Victims and Survivors Support Framework to provide psychosocial support, educational opportunities and economic recovery programmes for communities devastated by terrorist attacks.

“A nation that fails to care for victims of terrorism inadvertently strengthens the objectives of terrorists. We must ensure that victims are not forgotten once the headlines disappear,” he stated.

The former vice president further criticised the Tinubu administration’s handling of security spending, describing the government’s approach as lacking transparency and accountability.

“What is particularly troubling is that despite trillions of naira budgeted for defence and security over the years, Nigerians are less secure today than they were a decade ago. Terrorists have become more mobile, bandits more audacious, kidnappers more sophisticated, and communities more vulnerable.

“This is not merely a failure of resources; it is a failure of strategy, coordination, accountability, and leadership.”

He called for greater investment in intelligence-led policing, surveillance systems and community engagement initiatives, while also demanding stronger measures to eliminate corruption within the security sector and improve the welfare of security personnel.

“The time has come to institutionalise learning from our own painful experiences. Nigeria cannot continue to treat every terrorist attack as an isolated event disconnected from previous incidents.

“We must build a security framework that accumulates knowledge, shares lessons, strengthens preparedness, and prevents the recurrence of avoidable tragedies.”

Atiku urged the Federal Government to immediately constitute a high-level technical committee to review and update the National Counterterrorism Policy and establish the proposed Terrorism Violence Peer Review Mechanism.

“Nigerians deserve nothing less than a counterterrorism framework that is proactive, evidence-based, transparent, and firmly rooted in our domestic realities. The security of our citizens is too important to be sacrificed on the altar of complacency, bureaucracy, and outdated thinking,” he added.

He stressed that the protection of lives and property remains the primary responsibility of government and called on the Tinubu administration to move beyond rhetoric and urgently implement reforms capable of restoring public confidence in the country’s ability to defeat terrorism and secure communities across the nation.