It has been over two years for the reason that President of Nigeria, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, delivered his inaugural handle on the Eagle Sq. in Abuja, nevertheless it looks as if solely yesterday.
Tinubu, who was taking up from his predecessor, the late Muhammadu Buhari, grew to become the Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces on Might 29, 2023, and didn’t mince phrases when he touched on the insecurity plaguing the nation.
Apart from insisting that his administration will defend Nigeria from terror and all types of criminality that threaten her peace and stability, Tinubu additionally mentioned that safety could be his workforce’s high precedence.
“Safety shall be the highest precedence of our administration as a result of neither prosperity nor justice can prevail amidst insecurity and violence.
“To successfully sort out this menace, we will reform each our safety DOCTRINE and its ARCHITECTURE.
“We will make investments extra in our safety personnel, and this implies greater than a rise in quantity. We will present higher coaching, tools, pay and firepower,” he promised.
After Tinubu assumed workplace, many Nigerians drew consideration to the necessity for him to sack the service chiefs he inherited from Buhari.
However for causes finest recognized to himself, Tinubu allowed the service chiefs to proceed to work.
The President, nonetheless, got here beneath stress to fireside them.
Nigerians, particularly these in civil society organisations, questioned how Tinubu may successfully crush terrorism or reform the nation’s safety DOCTRINE and ARCHITECTURE if “outdated palms,” who had been perceived to have run out of concepts, had been nonetheless within the saddle.
It is going to be recalled that the late Buhari, throughout his personal tenure, had additionally retained the service chiefs regardless of widespread calls for his or her sacking.
Nigerians needed Tinubu to let go of the then service chiefs as a result of Islamist terror {groups}, Boko Haram and the Islamic State for West Africa Province, in addition to different armed {groups}, had been working roughshod over hapless residents and the navy didn’t do sufficient to crack down on them.
Additionally, verifiable knowledge confirmed that between Might 2015 and Might 2023, the bloodthirsty {groups} had killed over 55,000 Nigerians, therefore the barrage of criticism Buhari obtained for allegedly turning a blind eye to the alarming killings beneath his watch.
Tinubu finally heeded the voice of Nigerians.
Precisely three weeks after his inauguration, the president retired all of the service chiefs and appointed new ones whom he instructed to annihilate the insurgents, bandits, unknown gunmen and cattle rustlers who go away a path of destruction of their wake.
These affected in that shakeup embody Fortunate Irabor, who was sacked because the Chief of Defence Employees; Faruk Yahaya, retired because the Chief of Military Employees; Awwal Gambo, eliminated because the Chief of Naval Employees; and Isiaka Amao, retired as Chief of Air Employees.
The President additionally named replacements for the service chiefs.
C.G Musa grew to become the Chief of Defence Employees, the late T.A Lagbaja was made the Chief of Military Employees, E.A Ogalla got here on board because the Chief of Naval Employees, H.B Abubakar took cost as Chief of Air Employees, and Nuhu Ribadu, a former Chairman of the {Economic} and {Financial} Crimes Fee, grew to become the Nationwide Safety Adviser.
Though there have been nonetheless some incidents of violence and fatalities in some elements of the nation, the service chiefs acquired off on the precise foot, and for greater than six months after Tinubu was elected to workplace, there was relative calm in Nigeria’s epicenters of terrorism, particularly within the North East and North Central.
This doubtlessly celebratory information prompted the NSA, Ribadu, in April 2024, to announce that terror-related deaths had drastically decreased in Nigeria from about 2,600 month-to-month to lower than 200 as at then.
Ribadu added, “A whole lot of distinction is happening in Nigeria, and that’s the reason why I can guarantee you that within the final one yr, we’ve decreased deaths because of violent crimes and using arms.”
Some analysts mentioned the NSA seemingly did “injury management” as a result of earlier in March 2025, a large-scale terrorist assault in Bokkos Native Authorities Space of Plateau State had despatched the federal government crashing again to earth and made the NSA say, “Sufficient is sufficient.”
Successive assaults had been inevitable.
In April 2025, in Bassa Native Authorities Space of Plateau State, virtually 50 individuals, largely ladies and youngsters, had been killed, and the assault on bizarre Nigerians didn’t cease there.
By June 2025, the individuals of Yelwata in Benue State discovered themselves on the receiving finish of a vicious assault unleashed by terrorists.
The surge in violence in Plateau, Benue, Borno, Katsina and different affected states prompted requires the sacking of Tinubu’s service chiefs.
Regardless of the nationwide feeling of gloom and doom, a conventional ruler in Katsina State, Ibrahim Idah, mentioned in July that within the two years following Tinubu’s emergence as president, terror-related assaults had gone down considerably in his state.
The complexity of Nigerians’ experiences however, Tinubu, in a shocking transfer in late October, appointed a brand new set of service chiefs.
The president appointed Olufemi Oluyede to exchange Christopher Musa as the brand new Chief of Defence Employees.
W. Shaibu grew to become the brand new Chief of Military Employees, S.Ok Aneke took over as Chief of Air Employees whereas I. Abbas is the brand new Chief of Naval Employees.
A political analyst, Collins Ubawuchi, mentioned that in 2023, Tinubu promised to help the service chiefs in order that they might win the warfare towards terror.
Ubawuchi mentioned the President mustn’t pay lip service to do all that he mentioned.
“When the primary service chiefs had been appointed in 2023, Tinubu promised that he would offer higher pay, wage and firepower, however we’re but to see these issues in abundance within the navy.
“Final month, we heard the brand new Chief of Defence Employees, Oluyede, say that the navy wants improved funding when he appeared earlier than Senators for screening.
“Tinubu already mentioned he would give them all the pieces they should be profitable.
“The president mustn’t pay lip service to the welfare of navy personnel.”
Though the presidency had insisted that the appointment of the brand new service chiefs mirrored Tinubu’s willpower to reinvigorate the nation’s safety structure, it was the re-designation of Nigeria, over alleged Christian genocide, as a “Nation of Explicit Concern” and the specter of a US navy intervention within the nation that has offered the impetus for change.
Final week, an announcement by the presidency famous that the safety of Nigeria is non-negotiable.
The assertion added, “Since 2023, the Federal Authorities of Nigeria, by way of enhanced inter-agency cooperation, has vigorously pursued, arrested, eradicated, or efficiently convicted terrorists and insurgents, particularly these accountable for a number of the most heinous assaults on Nigerian territory.
“Since 2024, over 124 terrorists and insurgents have been efficiently convicted, whereas others — together with members of the Ansaru management and people accountable for the Owo Church bombing in 2022, in addition to the Yelwata (Benue) reprisal and counter-reprisal assaults — are present process trial in numerous courts.”
Though some opponents of the federal government took the assertion with a pinch of salt, the Minister of Data and Nationwide Orientation, Mohammed Idris, mentioned Nigeria faces longstanding safety challenges which have impacted Christians and Muslims.
Idris additionally mentioned Tinubu is decided to confront and finish the nation’s safety challenges.
To buttress the purpose he made, the Minister famous that the World Terrorism Index had revealed that terror-related assaults in Nigeria have fallen to the bottom degree in over a decade, a improvement he attributed to the mixed impact of kinetic operations, intelligence-led methods, and socio-economic interventions in susceptible communities.
“These should not simply statistics, they characterize human lives saved, communities revived, and the return of hope and stability to areas as soon as terrorised by violence,” Idris mentioned.
A present affairs analyst, Muyiwa Bello, informed The Level, “Insecurity is the largest problem Tinubu is dealing with bar none. And the president should deal with it delicately.
“To this point so good, the president has proven seriousness to struggle prison bandits and terrorists, however till he reveals full transparency in the best way he’s going about it, he would proceed to struggle a warfare he can’t win.
“I’m, subsequently, advising the federal government to reveal the sponsors of terror in Nigeria. They need to accomplish that earlier than the Individuals publish their very own checklist which they are saying might be out quickly.
“And another factor, if the president notices ineptitude, he ought to sack the service chiefs as quickly as potential. They don’t should be there for 2 years like their predecessors.”