The 2023 Labour Party vice-presidential candidate, Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, has faulted President Bola Tinubu’s nationwide security emergency, insisting that the administration “missed the point.”

He said that the Nigeria Police—if freed from corruption and political interference—can end terrorism and banditry on its own.

Speaking during an interview on Arise News on Thursday, Baba-Ahmed said the President’s approach, particularly the plan to rapidly recruit tens of thousands of new security personnel, is misguided.

According to him, Nigeria’s security problem “is not about numbers” but about addressing corruption within the security architecture.

“It is not about numbers. It is about reducing corruption in the war against insecurity itself.

“The entire amount budgeted for security in this current budget—how much of that is actually going into the war and how much is going into the 2027 elections? How much is going into private pockets? That is the problem,” he said.

Baba-Ahmed argued that if corruption and political interests were eliminated, the police alone could end terrorism and banditry.

“Once you remove that, Nigeria will become secure… Remove the Nigerian armed forces. The Nigerian police alone can wipe out insecurity and banditry in two months.

“Remove that corruption, remove political interest, give them all the support they want. They will do it,” he said.

His comments came a day after Tinubu declared a nationwide security emergency and directed the Armed Forces and the Nigeria Police Force to recruit more personnel.

The President announced that the police alone would recruit an additional 20,000 officers—bringing the total intake to 50,000—as part of efforts to curb rising attacks and kidnappings across the country.

Tinubu also urged state governments to reconsider establishing boarding schools in remote or poorly secured areas, following recent mass abductions of students and teachers in Niger, Kebbi and other states.

But Baba-Ahmed rejected this directive entirely, warning that such a move would amount to allowing bandits to dictate national policy.

Describing the President’s position on rural schools as dangerous, he said, “That is deadly. That is wrong. I wish President Tinubu can hear this very quickly.”

He insisted that the government should be expanding, not restricting, access to education in vulnerable communities.

“He should encourage people to build. If I have money, I will build in the rural areas,” ” he said.

Baba-Ahmed argued that discouraging rural education undermines national development, stressing that teachers and school administrators are already fighting a silent war.

“We in the educational world, we’re fighting a war on behalf of the country that people don’t realise, and it’s as good as what the armed forces are doing.

“So, for the commander-in-chief to say, stop building in rural areas… remote, populated, unpopulated, whatever it is, continue to build. I’m not contradicting the commander-in-chief, but he has said something that is very wrong,” he said.

This comes as Nigeria battles a surge in abductions, rural attacks, and school kidnappings, raising fresh concerns about safety, education access, and the nation’s broader security strategy. (PUNCH)

Update news