The 2023 Labour Party vice-presidential candidate, Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, has dismissed President Bola Tinubu’s newly declared nationwide security emergency, insisting that Nigeria’s insecurity crisis cannot be solved by mass recruitment of personnel but by confronting deep-rooted corruption within the system.
Speaking during an interview on Arise News on Thursday, monitored by PRECISE NEWS, Baba-Ahmed said the Federal Government continues to “miss the point” by focusing on increasing the number of security operatives while ignoring the political interference, mismanagement of funds, and entrenched corruption that have crippled Nigeria’s security architecture.
According to him, terrorism, banditry, and violent crimes will persist unless government decisively purges corruption from the political space and allows security institutions to operate independently and professionally.
“It is not about numbers. It is about reducing corruption in the war against insecurity itself,” he stated. “The entire amount budgeted for security—how much of that is actually going into fighting the war? How much is going into 2027 elections? How much is entering private pockets? That is the real problem.”
Baba-Ahmed added that Nigeria does not lack capacity but political will. He maintained that if the police and armed forces were given full operational independence, adequate resources, and insulation from political manipulation, they possess the competence to end terrorism and banditry within a short period.
“Once you remove corruption and political interests, Nigeria will become secure. The Nigerian police alone can wipe out insecurity and banditry in two months if they are supported and allowed to work without interference,” he said.
His comments came a day after President Tinubu announced new directives under the national security emergency, including the recruitment of additional 50,000 police personnel and warnings to states to reconsider boarding schools in remote or poorly secured areas after recent school abductions.
But Baba-Ahmed rejected the President’s position entirely, saying it sends the wrong signal and effectively allows criminals to determine national policy.
“That is deadly. That is wrong. I wish President Tinubu can hear this very quickly,” he said, stressing that discouraging rural education undermines national development.
“For the commander-in-chief to say stop building in rural areas… remote, populated, unpopulated, whatever it is, continue to build. He said something very wrong. We in the educational world are fighting a war on behalf of the country.”
He insisted that insecurity is not a justification for abandoning vulnerable communities, but a call for government to strengthen and properly fund security operations.
As Nigeria battles rising kidnappings, rural attacks, and school abductions, Baba-Ahmed maintained that the path to lasting peace lies in cleaning up the political system, empowering security agencies with the resources they are budgeted for, and letting them work without corruption or political pressure.