President Muhammadu Buhari has done his best to address Nigeria’s numerous security challenges since taking office in May 2015, and he is leaving the country “far better” than he found it.
Femi Adesina, the presidential spokesman, stated this on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Monday.
When confronted with verifiable data indicating that over 55,000 Nigerians were killed by terrorists, bandits, and armed gangs between May 2015 and May 2022, Adesina stated that the President has left the country’s security situation better than when he arrived in 2015.
“The figure has been coming down progressively over the years and it’s a fact of history. Nobody can change it,” he said.
Asked whether the situation has improved, he said, “far better”.
“In 2015, we knew where Nigeria was. Minimum of 17 local governments in this country were under the control of insurgents.
“Talking of control, I mean they were sitting in emir palaces, they sitting in the seats of the local government chairmen. NYSC could not even do orientation; they could not even post people to those places.
“Is that what happens today? No. The emirs are back in their palaces. The local government chairmen are back in their offices. NYSC orientation are opening in those states and corpers are being posted to those states. Are you now telling me there have been no improvement? No, let’s be factual,” the presidential spokesman said.
He also said the appointment of service chiefs is not subject to ethnic balancing and the federal character principle, adding that the President has the prerogative to choose those he feels can secure the country.
“Don’t subject security to ethnic balancing, don’t subject security to federal character. In fact, the constitution that prescribes federal character even gives the President some prerogatives that he can appoint on his own,” he stated.