Tinubu administration decimated major Security threats — NSA Ribadu

The National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, has declared that the Federal Government under President Bola Tinubu has significantly subdued several complex security challenges it inherited upon assuming office.

Ribadu stated this while addressing participants at the APC National Summit in Abuja, which marked two years of the current administration.

According to him, through coordinated security efforts, the government has managed to curtail incidents such as mass killings, abductions, wanton destruction, and terrorist attacks targeting government establishments. Ribadu pointed out that Nigeria, prior to May 29, 2023, was battling five major security crises scattered across the country.

He recalled that until 2022, terrorists carried out high-profile attacks including the Abuja-Kaduna train bombing, the Kuje Correctional Centre jailbreak, the deadly assault on a church in Owo, and an ambush on an army formation in Bwari, Abuja.

The NSA listed the inherited challenges as the Boko Haram insurgency in the North-East, banditry in the North-West, separatist agitations by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and Eastern Security Network (ESN) in the South-East, unrest in the Niger Delta, and recurring communal and herders-farmers clashes, especially in the North-Central region.

Providing an update, Ribadu disclosed that before the Tinubu government came into office, Boko Haram and banditry alone had claimed over 35,000 and 12,000 lives, respectively, while millions were displaced. He further stated that joint security operations have now largely contained the sit-at-home protests in the South-East and sabotage of oil infrastructure in the Niger Delta.

He revealed that within the last two years, security forces neutralized over 13,543 Boko Haram fighters, recovered and destroyed more than 11,000 firearms from terrorists, while about 124,408 Boko Haram militants and their family members have surrendered to troops.

Ribadu also noted that, despite occasional challenges, military operations continue to flush out remnants of insurgents from strongholds like the Timbuktu Triangle, Tumbu Islands, and other remote enclaves.