The Presidency on Sunday rejected calls for Nigeria to hand over its internal security to foreign powers, describing such suggestions as an act of surrender.

In a response aimed at former President Olusegun Obasanjo, it defended President Bola Tinubu’s counter-terrorism measures, stating that they are producing results.

Posting on his official X account, the President’s Special Adviser on Media and Communication, Sunday Dare, criticized attempts to portray the Tinubu administration as incapable of protecting Nigerians, emphasizing that the country is confronting real terrorists.

Dare said, “The suggestion that Nigeria should effectively subcontract its internal security to foreign governments is not statesmanship; it is capitulation. Before recommending surrender, the former President should reflect on what he failed to do when these terrorists first began organizing under his watch.”

The statement follows Obasanjo’s remarks on Friday in Jos during the Plateau State Unity Christmas Carol and Praise Festival, where he said Nigerians have the right to seek international assistance if the government fails in its constitutional duty to protect them.

Obasanjo argued that the persistence and scale of violence indicate that Nigeria’s security system is no longer capable of addressing current threats, making foreign intervention justified. He also urged the Federal Government to halt negotiations with terrorists and adopt a more decisive approach.

The Presidency, however, faulted Obasanjo, saying his comments were not statesmanlike. “Recent statements by a former President and a few habitual presidential aspirants attempting to portray the Tinubu administration as ‘unable to protect Nigerians’ are not only hypocritical but ignoble. They ignore the hard truth: Nigeria is facing terrorists—every kind of terrorist, by every definition, whether international, regional, or local.”

Dare added that those now offering advice ignored these threats when they first emerged, insisting that Nigerians are aware of this history. “Yet the very individuals who looked away when these threats first sprouted now want to sit in judgment. Nigerians know better,” he stated.

The Presidency emphasized that individuals responsible for killing villagers, kidnapping citizens, bombing infrastructure, and challenging state authority are terrorists, regardless of any foreign affiliation.

“Nigeria is under attack by terrorists, full stop! No euphemisms. No soft language. Those killing Nigerians, raiding villages, kidnapping innocents, destroying infrastructure, and challenging state authority are terrorists, whether they fly a foreign flag or none at all,” the statement said.

It described the threat as a multilayered ecosystem that includes internationally designated terror groups, ISIS- and al-Qaeda-linked Sahel franchises, local extremist groups “masquerading as bandits,” cross-border cells exploiting porous frontiers, and ideological insurgents blending crime and terror in ungoverned spaces.

“These actors collaborate, sharing money, ideology, weapons, intelligence, and logistics,” the Presidency added.