By Our Reporter
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has called on the Federal Government to stop treating bandits and terrorists with kid gloves, saying that government should totally rule out any form of negotiation with them.
Obasanjo made the call on Friday, while speaking at the Plateau State Unity Christmas Carol and Praise Festival held in Jos, the state capital, insisting that Nigeria must take decisive action and embrace international assistance to confront escalating insecurity ravaging the country.
The former president who spoke against the backdrop of escalating recent killings, abductions, and other attacks on several communities in the North, maintained that the Federal Government to stop apologising and negotiating with terrorists.
It would be recalled that on November 21, 2025, a total of 315 students and 13 teachers were abducted from St. Mary’s Catholic School in Papiri, Niger State.
The incident occurred after the terrorists kidnapped 26 schoolgirls at the Government Girls Secondary School, Maga, in Danko-Wasagu Local Government Area of Kebbi State, on November 17.
Also in the latest assault, bandits struck the Palaita community, Erena Ward in Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State, abducting 24 people, including pregnant women, from a rice farm, while about 20 persons were also abducted by bandits in Kano and Kwara between Monday night and Tuesday morning.
The former president, while further expressing his displeasure over the rising insecurity, said that Nigerians had the right to seek foreign intervention to cover for what he described as the government’s failure to protect its citizens.
"No matter what religion you belong to. No matter where you come from. No matter your profession, we Nigerians are being killed, and our government seems to be incapable of protecting us.
"We are part of the world community. If our government cannot do it, we have the right to call on the international community to do for us what our government cannot do for us," he said.
This was just as he maintained that unlike during his time in office, modern technology had made it easier to flush out terrorists from their hideouts.
"Before I left the government, I knew we had the capacity to pick up anybody in Nigeria who commits crime anywhere. The capacity we didn’t have then was after identifying and locating such a criminal, we couldn’t apprehend him without moving on land or by air," Obasanjo said.
"Now we have capacity. With drones, we can sleeve them up. You can take them out. Why are we not doing that? Why are we apologising? Why are we negotiating?" he queried.
Post a Comment