By Anamati Inyang
November 29, 2025
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has criticised the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration over what he described as its inability to decisively tackle banditry, questioning why the Federal Government is reportedly negotiating with armed groups instead of confronting them.
Obasanjo spoke on Friday at the Plateau Unity Christmas and Praise Festival, held at the Ten Commandments Prayer Altar in Dwei Du, Jos South Local Government Area of Plateau State.
He expressed concern that despite ongoing killings across the country, the government appears unable to protect its citizens. According to him, Nigerians have the right to seek international assistance if their government cannot fulfil its basic responsibility of ensuring security.
“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. If we are being killed, it is the responsibility of government to do something about it,” he said.
The former President described the killings across different regions and religions as “nonsensical,” insisting that leadership at all levels must take responsibility.
He also noted that with modern technology, no criminal should be able to hide after committing an offence.
“In these days of technology, there should be nobody hiding anywhere after he has committed a crime that cannot be seen with the present day satellite,” Obasanjo said.
Reflecting on his time in office, he revealed that Nigeria had long developed the capacity to track individuals involved in criminal activities. What was lacking then, he said, was the operational capability to extract such individuals without deploying ground or air operations.
“Before I left government, I knew we had the capacity to pick up anybody in Nigeria. The capacity we didn’t have then was that, after we had identified and located such a criminal, we didn’t have the capacity to pick him up without moving on land or by air. Now we have capacity with drones. You can take them out. Why are we not doing that?” he asked.
He further questioned the rationale behind negotiating with bandits and allegedly paying them.
“Why are we negotiating? And after government has paid these criminals, government denies,” he said.
Obasanjo urged the government to take decisive action to end the killings across the country.
“We are tired of being killed, and we want the killing of Nigerians to stop. Whether they are Christians or Muslims or pagans, they are Nigerians, and the life of every Nigerian matters,” he added.
