Senate President, Godswill Akpabio has declared the the recent escalation of terrorist attacks across Nigeria is a coordinated effort aimed at diverting attention from the economic reforms of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Akpabio made this remark on Tuesday during the commissioning of the Nigeria Revenue Service Headquarters in Abuja, where he insisted that the violence was being sponsored.
He said, “Believe me, Mr President, two weeks after you win the elections, the bomb blasts will stop. People are sponsoring it to distract you from your work.”
“You’re doing so well despite the gang up on your administration.”
Akpabio’s comments came shortly after the President held a closed-door meeting with the Chief of Defence Staff, General Olufemi Oluyede, and a visiting French military official at the Presidential Villa.
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Sources privy to the meeting indicated that discussions centred on strengthening security collaboration.
The engagement marked the President’s first official assignment following his return from Bayelsa State and followed recent assurances of military support from France, including equipment and training for Nigerian forces engaged in counter-insurgency operations in the North-East.
Reports indicate that a Nigerian Air Force operation targeting insurgents struck a market in Yobe State near the Borno border, killing dozens of civilians. While the military described the strike as a legitimate operation against a terrorist logistics hub, rights groups have criticised the incident.
Reacting to the development, a presidential aide, Temitope Ajayi, stated, “The market was a legitimate military target because it has been turned into a logistics and trading hub by Boko Haram and ISWAP terrorists.”
The incident has renewed scrutiny of military operations, with calls for an independent investigation into civilian casualties linked to air raids.
Meanwhile, the United States recently authorised the voluntary evacuation of non-essential embassy staff from Abuja, citing heightened security risks. The advisory placed several Nigerian states under its highest travel warning category.
However, the Federal Government downplayed the advisory, insisting it does not reflect a nationwide breakdown of security.
Minister of Information, Mohammed Idris, said, “While we acknowledge isolated security challenges in some areas, there is no general breakdown of law and order, and the vast majority of the country remains stable.”
Nigeria continues to grapple with multiple security threats, including insurgency in the North-East, banditry in the North-West and North-Central, and separatist violence in parts of the South-East.
