The Presidency has strongly criticised former President Olusegun Obasanjo over his recent remarks on insecurity, insisting that Boko Haram started under your watch and accusing him of attempting to rewrite history in Nigeria’s ongoing fight against the Nigeria terrorism crisis.
In a statement issued on Sunday, President Bola Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Media and Public Communication, Sunday Dare, said Obasanjo’s comments were “hypocritical and ignoble,” especially given his role during the formative years of Boko Haram.
Obasanjo had claimed at a public event in Jos that Nigerians should seek foreign intervention due to what he described as the government’s failure to protect its citizens. But the Presidency fired back, saying such statements amounted to surrender and undermined national morale.
Dare stressed that Boko Haram’s ideological roots and early operational cells emerged during Obasanjo’s civilian administration. “Before recommending surrender, the former president should remember what he failed to do when these terrorists first began organising under his watch,” he said.
According to the Presidency, Boko Haram evolved from a preventable extremist sect into a regional threat because decisive action was not taken early enough. Dare argued that Obasanjo’s current criticism ignored “historical facts” while downplaying the administration’s ongoing efforts to address the Nigeria terrorism crisis.
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He added that President Tinubu was confronting terrorism through a combination of military operations, intelligence-driven strategies, and community-based counter-radicalisation programmes. Criticisms that weaken public confidence, he warned, only embolden terrorists.
Dare urged former leaders to support national security efforts rather than disparage them. “If Obasanjo truly wants to help, he should acknowledge past failures and offer constructive support,” he said.
The Presidency maintained that Tinubu remains committed to securing every part of the country and will not be distracted by “selective amnesia wrapped in elder-statesmanship.”