A former presidential aide, Mr Reno Omokri, has cautioned a former governor of Anambra State, Mr Peter Obi, not to politicise the security situation in the country, saying there has been tremendous improvement under President Bola Tinubu’s watch.
Omokri, former President Goodluck Jonathan’s special assistant on social media, said the Global Terrorism Index showed that the country’s insecurity was being tamed and that Obi should take a more positive approach to his assessment of the situation.
The former governor had taken to his X handle on Saturday to call for war on the economy, power and insecurity, contending that the situation in the sectors was intolerable.
Obi, who was also the presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 general election, cited the kidnap of 20 medical and dental students on their way to Enugu in Oturpo, Benue State as evidence that President Tinubu administration was not ebbing insecurity.
In a statement yesterday, Omokri countered Obi and said the evidence on the ground proved the former governor wrong. He said the 2024 Global Terrorism Index showed that Nigeria under President Tinubu had improved by five basis points, moving from the third most insecure country under former President Muhammadu Buhari to eight.
He said, “According to the Global Terrorism Index, Nigeria was the third most insecure country in the world. Today, we have improved, and according to the 2024 Global Terrorism Index published by the Institute for Economics and Peace, Nigeria is now the eighth most terrorised nation. We have improved by five places”.
According to him, the quantum leap in the security situation was due to President Tinubu’s recalibration of the nation’s security architecture through the able leadership provided by his National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu.
Omokri said despite occasional attacks on soft targets, the banditry in the Northwest and the insurgency in the Northeast had reduced because the security forces had systematically decimated the ranks of the non-state actors.
“The seven deadliest bandits in Nigeria have been killed under the dispensation of Mallam Ribadu as NSA, including Ali Kachala, Boderi Isyaku, Sani Dangote, Modi, and Nagala”, the former presidential aide said.
He asked the former governor to note that improved security in the country had already started bearing fruits, pointing at the drop in high food prices due to protection the military is giving farmers in the Northeast and Northwest.
He said the Niger Delta, which used to be restive, was now at peace, helping Nigeria’s oil production attain 1.7 million barrels per day last week.
Omokri told Obi, “In the Southeast, in the last year of General Buhari’s presidency, forty-eight police stations were sacked by Unknown Gunmen suspected of being Indigenous People of Biafra members (IPOB). Today, all of those forty-eight stations are open and functioning.
“Bandits attacked the Abuja-Kaduna trains under Buhari. This has been brought to an end. Under Buhari, bandits attacked Kuje Prison, the Brigade of Guards and the Nigerian Defence Academy. Is that happening today? Of course not”.
Accusing Obi of hypocrisy and politicising the security situation in the country, Omokri said the former governor refused to acknowledge that the situation in the Southeast had improved far more than when he held sway as Anambra State governor.
He stated, “While you were Governor of Anambra State, Anambra was more insecure than it is today, and Nigeria itself was, according to the Global Terror Index, more insecure than it is today, yet you never called for a war on terror. Why? Because you were not contesting to be President. You are just taking advantage of the situation to further your political ambition.
“Under you, Anambra had known armed non-state actors, such as the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), Bakassi Boys, and the Indigenous People of Biafra. What did you do about them? You did not do anything substantial”.
He accused the former governor of turning a blind eye to gunmen’s nefarious activities in the Southeast and going overboard when there were incidents in other parts of the country.
According to Omokri, “Two weeks ago, Unknown Gunmen killed four police officers in Imo. You, Peter Obi, did not condemn that incident till today. The next day, IPOB claimed responsibility for the killing, but you, Peter Obi, still did not condemn the killing or IPOB.
“Then, Unknown Gunmen killed seven traditional rulers in Imo five days later, and you, Peter Obi, still have not condemned it. Next, Unknown Gunmen murdered five people in Anambra. And again, you, Peter Obi, still said nothing. You ignored all these deaths till today. Total radio silence!
“But yesterday, a commissioner from Anambra was abducted in Edo state, and you IMMEDIATELY shouted.”.
