Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has dismissed calls for negotiations with bandits, insisting that Nigeria must take firm action and leverage international support to tackle worsening insecurity.
Obasanjo spoke on Friday at the Plateau State Unity Christmas Carol and Praise Festival in Jos, where he urged the Federal Government to stop “apologising and negotiating” with terrorists amid rising attacks across the North.
His remarks come as banditry continues to surge. On November 21, gunmen abducted 315 students and 13 teachers from St. Mary’s Catholic School, Papiri, Niger State. Days earlier, on November 17, 26 schoolgirls were seized from Government Girls Secondary School, Maga, in Danko-Wasagu Local Government Area of Kebbi State.
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In a fresh attack this week, bandits stormed Palaita in Erena Ward, Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State, and abducted 24 people, including pregnant women, from a rice farm. About 20 others were taken in separate incidents in Kano and Kwara between Monday night and Tuesday morning.
The latest spike in abductions came barely 24 hours after 38 worshippers kidnapped from the Christ Apostolic Church, Oke-Isegun, Eruku, Kwara State, on November 18, were freed following negotiations by the Federal Government.
During Tuesday’s raid in Isapa, near Eruku, 10 people — including a pregnant woman, nursing mothers and children — were also taken.
Obasanjo, visibly displeased, said Nigerians have the right to seek external intervention when government fails in its primary duty to secure lives.
“No matter your religion, origin or profession, we Nigerians are being killed, and our government seems incapable of protecting us,” he said. “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.”
He argued that modern technology now provides far greater capacity to track and neutralise terrorists than during his time in office.
“Before I left government, we already had the capacity to identify and locate criminals anywhere in Nigeria,” he said. “What we lacked then was the capacity to take them out without moving on land or air.
“Now we have that capacity. With drones, we can pick them up. You can take them out. Why are we not doing that? Why are we apologising? Why are we negotiating?”
