Tinubu’s Security Emergency Declaration Is Pointless — Baba-Ahmed

Former Labour Party’s vice presidential candidate in the 2023 elections, Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, has faulted President Bola Tinubu’s declaration of a nationwide state of emergency on security, describing the move as misdirected and pointless.

President Tinubu had announced the emergency following a resurgence of deadly attacks and mass abductions in some states in the country.

As part of the proposed measures to stem the wave of attacks, Tinubu ordered the recruitment of 50,000 additional security personnel, the deployment of forest guards to wooded border areas, and the redeployment of police officers from VIP protection duties to receive accelerated training in asymmetric warfare.

He also advised local authorities to stop building schools in remote areas, a recommendation that has drawn criticism.

Speaking during an interview on Arise TV’s Prime Time on Thursday, Baba-Ahmed stated that the President’s proposals failed to address the fundamental issues driving insecurity.

“He has missed the point completely,” he said. “This declaration of a state of emergency is a joke.”

Baba-Ahmed condemned the suggestion to halt the construction of schools in rural communities, describing it as “deadly” and harmful to national development.

“That is deadly, that is wrong. I wish Uncle Tinubu could hear this very quickly. Among the entire list, withdraw that one and please correct himself. Encourage people to build,” he said.

“We in the educational world are fighting a war on behalf of the country that people don’t realise. It is as good as what the armed forces are doing.”

Speaking on the directive to recruit more security personnel, the former vice presidential candidate argued that Nigeria’s problem was not a lack of manpower, but rather corruption and mismanagement within the security system.

“It is not about numbers. The Nigerian police alone can wipe out insecurity and banditry in two months.

“It is about reducing corruption in the war against insecurity itself. The entire amount budgeted for security in this current budget; how much is going into the 2027 elections? How much is going into private pockets? That is the problem. Once you remove that, Nigeria will become secure,” Baba-Ahmed said.

He also described the proposed deployment of forest guards as “laughable,” insisting that security agencies already possessed the capacity to combat armed groups.

“Nigerian armed forces rank among the best in the world,” he maintained.

“Nigeria single-handedly stabilised Africa from the late ’70s. Remember our contribution to end apartheid? We ended the war between Libya and Chad, stabilised Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast. We were shouldering the responsibilities of Niger, DRC, Somalia, the list goes on. And then to come back and tell us that we cannot sort the problems of Nigeria out? That is not true.”

Baba-Ahmed further argued that the bandits terrorising communities were not the real terrorists, but rather “gentlemen in the forest.”

“They are gentlemen in the forest; they are not jihadists. The real meaning of jihadists is totally different from what they do. They attack schools, they abduct, they do those kinds of things,” he said.

“The real terrorists in Nigeria are those who are saying that the government has fought terrorism. The real bandits are those who say this administration has brought security.”

He, however, warned that the country remains in a fragile and dangerous state, faulting political actors for enabling what he called an “incompetent government.”

“This Tinubu government is so weak; they’re in a very bad situation,” he said.

“Nigerians, Obi, Atiku, everyone, see what we have done to ourselves, allowing Tinubu and Shettima to ruin our country. You have brought in an incompetent government that is incapable of fulfilling their promises.”

Baba-Ahmed insisted that the ongoing security crisis requires expertise, accountability, and strategic direction, not emergency declarations.