BEFORE coming into power, PRESIDENT Bola Ahmed Tinubu at various intervals repeatedly urged former president, Goodluck Jonathan, to resign over Boko Haram attacks before coming into power. Two years into his tenure, however, questions are being raised as to whether Tinubu has made any difference.
In March 2013, Tinubu called on Jonathan to immediately resign for his failure to curtail the worsening insecurity challenges bedevilling the country.
“If it is happening in these other states for some of these years and you have not gathered enough intelligence to nip it in the bud you have failed, please resign, you cannot continue to blame one IGP or the other,” he said.
In November 2014, Tinubu, who was the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), said Jonathan’s administration lacked the wherewithal to tackle the country’s security challenges.
Tinubu said, “I saw the sea of refugees caused by the Boko Haram insurgents and the lies coming from Jonathan’s administration. They have exhibited failure, lack of capacity, vision and creativity. The lies of yesterday are what they repeat today and are what they will repeat tomorrow. They are lying to you.”
Tinubu who accused the Jonathan government of lying and toying with the security said: “I don’t have time to explain the logic of their lies.”
Fast forward to December 2014, Tinubu argued that Jonathan, through his constant excuses to Nigerians, had effectively admitted his inability to govern the nation, and therefore insisted that he should resign.
Tinubu, who made these declarations during project commissioning or official government ceremonies, consistently expressed the wisdom that his party would have handled the situation more effectively.
In one of his statements, he said, “If you control the armed forces and you are the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic, why should any part of this country be under occupation? And you give us excuses every day. In any civilised country Jonathan should have resigned. But if he will not resign, he should wait for our broom, we will sweep him away.
“The thieves that daily steal your money have not given you any job, they cannot create jobs, and they are starving states of funds to pay workers’ salaries. The best thing to do is to sweep them away through broom revolution. APC is a party of the masses.
“It now behoves on you to begin a house-to-house campaign that this is a party of the masses.”
After emerging as the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate for the 2023 general elections, in June 2022, Tinubu promised a secure a prosperous and united Nigeria in his victory speech.
He said his emergence as president would birth a new orientation for nation-building and national transformation.
He emphasised the need for love among the country’s nationalities and a shift from an era of division, violence and hate across the nation.
He also promised to eliminate criminals, including terrorists. “They have been worrying us, but we will eliminate them. We are Nigerians. We are sure that no animal in the darkness of the night, no intruders, no destroyers, can bring Nigeria backward.
“On security, my policy is not artificial, created to sound good for this campaign. Our security policy is based on dedicated study and long conversations with experts in this field.”
What has changed?
Tinubu was sworn in as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on Monday, May 29.
In his inaugural speech on May 29, he also pledged to prioritise security and effectively tackle the menace of insecurity.
“Security shall be the top priority of our administration because neither prosperity nor justice can prevail amidst insecurity and violence.
“To effectively tackle this menace, we shall reform both our security Doctrine and its Architecture.
“We shall invest more in our security personnel, and this means more than an increase in number. We shall provide better training, equipment, pay and firepower,” the President stated.
However, Amnesty International (AI) on June 14, 2023, said more than 120 people were killed a few days after Tinubu assumed power.
The ICIR data showed that the security situation did not change under his administration, as over 600 people were killed under him within 45 days between May 29 and July 13, 2023.
According to data, the killings happened primarily from activities of non-state actors like bandits, Boko Haram insurgents, ethnic militias, armed robbers and other non-state actors.
In June 2024, frustrated after marking one year in office battling increasing insecurity, Tinubu vowed revenge against terrorists condemning the bomb attacks in Gwoza Local Government Area of Borno State.
The President described the attacks as desperate acts of terror and a clear manifestation of desperation arising from pressure mounted against terrorists by the Nigerian security forces.
At least 2,336 people were killed in various violent attacks within the first three months of 2024, according to data sourced and analysed by The ICIR.
This shows an approximate average of 26 persons killed daily between January 2024 and the end of March 2024.
Also in March, over 100 students were kidnapped in Kuriga town in Kaduna state. The incident generated public outrage among Nigerians.
Insecurity continued unabated, resulting in more than 4,556 fatalities and 7,086 abductions between 29 May 2023 and 22 May 2024, according to the ICIR data.
Resign if you can’t handle insecurity
In January 2024, following a surge in kidnapping cases, a former Vice President of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar, advised Tinubu to resign if he could not handle the insecurity challenges currently bedevilling Nigeria.
He accused the President of being a fiddler when the nation was insecure.
A few days after Atiku’s call, civil society organisations (CSOs) in Nigeria also appealed to Tinubu to declare an emergency due to the nation’s insecurity.
Tinubu cancelled his 72nd birthday celebration, scheduled for Friday, March 29, due to the rising hardship and insecurity in the country.
In October 2024, Tinubu said his administration made significant progress in the fight against insecurity 16 months after he took over.
Experts and high-profile individuals have continued to call the President out for failing to handle the rising insecurity and accused him of enjoying foreign trips while insecurity continued to ravage the country, particularly Benue, Borno, Plateau to Niger, and Ondo to Sokoto.
Similarly, the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, recently asked President Bola Tinubu to immediately suspend his ongoing retreat in France and return to confront the escalating wave of insecurity sweeping across the country.
Obi’s statement came amid widespread outrage over a series of deadly attacks that rocked communities in Plateau and Benue States, since Tinubu departed from Nigeria on April 2.
However, the Federal Government claimed that Tinubu was effectively in charge of Nigeria’s governance from Europe.
After vowing that those behind the attacks on several communities in Plateau State would be apprehended, the president pushed the responsibility to the state governor, Caleb Mutfwang, asking him to address the “age-long” communal issues connected to killings in the state.
The ICIR reports that the president has only condoled with the families and the states struggling with insecurity without taking any effective action to combat the issue despite vowing repeatedly to bring those involved to account.
Nanji is an investigative journalist with the ICIR. She has years of experience in reporting and broadcasting human angle stories, gender inequalities, minority stories, and human rights issues. She has documented sexual war crimes in armed conflict, sex for grades in Nigerian Universities, harmful traditional practices and human trafficking.