𝐁𝐚𝐝 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐍𝐢𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐚’𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 — 𝐁𝐚𝐛𝐚-𝐀𝐡𝐦𝐞𝐝

Former Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu, Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, has blamed Nigeria’s prolonged insecurity on decades of poor leadership, saying the country has been “poorly served by bad, indifferent leaders” for over 15 years.

Speaking on Arise TV on Friday, Baba-Ahmed said Nigeria’s security challenges have become more complex and widespread due to leadership failure at all levels. “The only thing that has been consistent all along is that we have had bad leaders going as far back as perhaps after President Yar’Adua,” he said. “Everything that happens to this country, you can visit it on the doorstep of our leadership.”

He added that successive presidents have failed to tackle insecurity decisively, saying, “We are where we are today because our leaders have failed us. President Tinubu has failed us. The president before him for eight years did virtually nothing about the increasing insecurity. The president before him hadn’t done much either. And here we are.”

On the recent statement by former U.S. President Donald Trump about alleged Christian persecution in Nigeria, Baba-Ahmed said foreign powers cannot solve Nigeria’s internal problems. “America would not fix Nigeria. That is the last thing we need — an America breathing down our neck and making Nigeria weak because we can buckle under,” he said.

He also highlighted Nigeria’s growing strategic role in regional security and geopolitics, noting that the country must take ownership of its challenges. “Nigeria holds a huge strategic position in the geopolitics of the Sahel, West Africa, and the continent. It’s not the kind of country that can be dictated to,” he said.

Baba-Ahmed’s remarks come amid international concern and a viral video where Trump alleged that “thousands and thousands” of Christians were being killed in Nigeria by “radical Islamists,” warning of a possible U.S. military intervention. The Nigerian government has since dismissed the allegations as false and reaffirmed its commitment to addressing insecurity through inclusive governance and interfaith dialogue.