The National Security Adviser (NSA), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, has said the Federal Government and security services in the country have substantially decimated multi-faceted security challenges inherited by the Bola Tinubu administration.
The NSA said through a combined security effort atrocities such as mass killings, wanton destruction, mass abductions and terrorist attacks on government installations have been contained.
Speaking Thursday at the APC National Summit to mark the two years of the Tinubu administration, the NSA said the administration inherited five interractible crises across the country.
“For us to appreciate where we are today, it’s important to reflect on where we were before the coming of this administration on May 29, 2023,” Ribadu said.
He recalled that terrorists had field day up until 2022 when Nigeria witnessed attack on the Abuja-Kadun train, attack on Kuje Prison, a church in Owo and an army battalion in Bwari, Abuja.
He listed the inherited security challenges to include Boko Haram in the North East, Armed Banditry in the North West, Secessionist agitations by the IPOB/ESN in the North East, Niger Delta unrest and communal conflicts/herder-farmer conflicts especially in the North Central.
Ribadu explained that before 2023 over 35,000 and 12,000 persons were claimed by the Boko Haram and banditry crises, respectively, while millions of people were rendered homeless in the affected areas.
The NSA said with the security agencies working as a team challenges such as the sit-at-home in the South East and sabotage of oil installations in the Niger Delta have been substantially addressed.
Ribadu said over 13,543 Boko Haram elements were neutralised in the past two years while over 11,000 arms were recovered and destroyed from the terrorists.
He said 124,408 Boko Haram fighters and their families surrendered to troops since the coming of this administration. The NSA said despite some setbacks, operations are going on in Tumbuktu Triangle, Tumbu islands and other enclaves to smoke out the insurgents.
The President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio thanked President Tinubu for tackling security challenges in the country. He said the President has streamlined and strengthened internal security. Akpabio said there are no longer cases of terrorists taking over territories and hoisting of alien flags by Boko Haram.
In his speech while moving a vote of confidence to adopt the President as sole candidate of the party in 2027 at the event, the Imo State governor, Sen Hope Uzodimma, who spoke on behalf of the 22 governors of the party acknowledged that in spite of the complexity of he security challenges “Progress is is evident”.
