Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, has accused the Federal Government of failing to tackle the security challenges in the country.
Lawal, who served as SGF under the administration of the late President Muhammadu Buhari, specifically said President Bola Tinubu’s government is not interested to tackle insecurity.
The former SGF compared Tinubu’s administration to previous governments of Goodluck Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari, saying the latter performed better than the former.
“Past governments were better, more accommodating,” Lawal said on Channels Television’s Politics Today.
“They served Nigerians better in the sense of equity, intention to fight corruption and being fair and just. Even in the sense of insecurity, Goodluck Jonathan fought insecurity. Buhari took over and did; this government is not interested in that,” he added.
He argued that before Tinubu came on board in May 2023, Adamawa, a North-Eastern state, was relatively peaceful.
He, however, claimed that two years into this administration, the security situation had worsened.
Lawal also took a swipe at the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, saying that he [Lawal] had yet to see efforts made to tackle killings and other security threats.
He lamented that some Nigerian soldiers were being killed in the theatre of operations, calling for decisive action to address the insecurity.
“I don’t see what work he [Ribadu] is doing. If I see what work he is doing, I will tell you.
“If I see results of what they are doing, I will say it. It won’t hurt me.
“I know soldiers are out there, some are losing their lives, quite a lot of them are from my community who have come back dead. I know them.
“Why are they losing their lives? Because the system that ought to support them has failed.
“When you send the soldier into the battle with an old, antiquated rifle that can only hold 20 ammunition and is facing an enemy that has one kilometre of bullets, you shoot one, it jams,” he said.
When asked why he did not change this while in office, Lawal defended the performance of Buhari’s government.
“Our time was better, better arms were procured. We had this advantage that our own was a soldier.
“Our Head of State understood the issues and he did well. Maybe he [Tinubu] is not interested,” Lawal added.
The former SGF’s comments came amid rising concerns over the spate of insecurity in the country.
US President Donald Trump’s threat to send US forces into Nigeria with “guns-a-blazing” if Africa’s most populous country does not stem what he described as the killing of Christians by terrorists.
Tinubu had last week pledged his administration’s resolve to intensify the fight against terrorism and criminality.