This is my response to the unfortunate statement from the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) and the fake, but predictable hot air from Kaduna, following my live television interview on Channels Television last night.
As usual, the combined voices of the Government of Kaduna State (KDSG) and ONSA, instead of responding to the core issues I raised, seek to deflect responsibility by alleging that exposing them amounts to politicizing security. As a person whose three siblings served in the Nigerian Army and the Airforce, with one of them rising to the rank of general, I have and will continue to appreciate and honor the memory of our citizens in uniform who have made sacrifices for Nigeria. I will also continue to appreciate the immense work that continue to be done by gallant officers of the military and security agencies.
It is a well-known fact to discerning Nigerians that the face of the politicization of national security for politically intended purposes resides, for the first time in our recent history, in the ONSA under its present leadership. If the ONSA thinks Nigerians are not following its unclear and incompetent management of terrorism and banditry in Northern Nigeria and beyond, in collaboration with a certain senator, also from the North, then it is high time it carried out an in-depth evaluation and review of its actions.
We are not the first to reveal the government’s ongoing greasing of the palms of non-state actors in Kaduna, Katsina, Zamfara, Sokoto, Niger, Kebbi, and other states. No matter how incompetent in security matters he may be, the National Security Adviser cannot be oblivious of videos and audios of traditional rulers, community leaders and religious leaders condemning the payments made by the state to bandits. The attempt at denial falls flat as many citizens in the affected states have been following the counter-replies by community leaders and clerics on the issue of government paying bandits.
We spoke the minds of distressed communities across Nigeria who are victims of banditry and terrorism, and who are watching with pain the way and manner the ONSA, which ought to be discreet and purely carry out intelligence coordination, is now deeply involved in lousy protocol and public relations duties along with politically inclined security management at the expense of the expertise of trained professionals. This charade by ONSA is being done gleefully at a steep cost to the finances of the country and the ethical fabric of our society. The constitutional, legal and patriotic duty the government owes on security is to better support our military and security agencies with more resources like personnel, equipment and technology, rather than further endangering the country by mollycoddling bandits.
What exactly constitutes ‘negotiations with bandits’? Why is non-kinetic approach to addressing banditry and criminality equal to withdrawals of huge amounts of money from state treasuries and handing them over to bandits and terrorists? Which officials and their intermediaries deliver this money, and how much personal withholding tax do they apply before delivery of the funds? Who are the most prolific purchasers of prime real estate in Abuja in the last two years and what is the source of their new-found wealth? These are questions many discerning citizens are demanding answers, while officials of ONSA and KDSG are focusing on protocol, propaganda and international junkets!
If one may digress a bit, it is trite to ask KDSG and ONSA that after the much-publicized negotiations with bandits in Birnin Gwari in the presence of the Governor of Kaduna State and representatives of ONSA, did the bandits not kill five citizens in the same Birnin Gwari LGA, Kakangi Ward, in particular last month? Have there been no kidnappings and killings in Kauru, Kajuru, Chikun, Giwa, and, lately, Kudan and Makarfi LGAs? How many of the six ISDB-financed Science Secondary Schools that we completed before leaving office have admitted student because of the improved security that KDSG and ONSA have miraculously achieved?
The parade at the ONSA of ‘rescued victims’ whose families usually frown at the narrative of being ‘rescued’ after they have paid ransoms is another unfortunate propaganda and official falsehood. At least, Nigerians followed the drama of the family in Zamfara State who paid a ransom to secure the release of their loved ones, while the middlemen of ONSA claimed to have ‘rescued’ them.
The Kaduna State Government is obviously disappointed that the recent revelations by SaharaReporters and SBM Intelligence have shattered the false facade it had presented on kidnapping and other security issues. In response, the state government chose to quarrel with the data which it knows to be true because it has consistently tried to suppress information on security incidents from reaching the public, by muzzling or inducing the local media not to report such.
In contrast, our administration was so confident that it was doing its best as a subnational to address security issues, in difficult circumstances, that it published quarterly and annual security incidents reports. These reports contained data on various types of security incidents, and these were presented without any attempt to distort the data, no matter how grim. The current government seems not to realize that citizens can easily see the dissonance between their security circumstances and the whitewashed version coming from an increasingly distrusted and incompetent government.
The recent political gathering of senior federal government officials in Kaduna to reel out President Tinubu’s success in the North saw the ONSA parading senior military and security officers to address the political gathering. This amounts to the same politicization of security personnel that the ONSA purports to disdain. In the megalomania of the National Security Adviser, every attempt to hold him accountable is politicization of security, every perceived enemy of his is a security risk, and every critic of a purportedly democratic government is unpatriotic. What a shame!
In the same Kaduna, over a month ago, the ONSA and their Kaduna collaborator twisted an initiative of a foreign country to provide aid to indigent citizens into a narrative of donating houses to the victims of banditry in the state. Nigerians should dig deeper into that story and also visit and verify if the said victims are currently occupying those places after the politically-inspired media stunt. The ONSA and KDSG are hereby challenged to also publicize the location and details on how they are carrying out Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration of the so-called repentant bandits.
As Governor of Kaduna State for eight years, we worked with two Ministers of Defence, one National Security Adviser, two Chiefs of Defence Staff, three Chiefs of Army Staff, two Chiefs of Naval Staff, two Chiefs of Air Staff, two Chiefs of Defence Intelligence, four Inspectors-General of Police, and three Directors-General of the State Security Service (DSS). This is aside from several General Officers Commanding, Air Officers Commanding, Commissioners of Police, State Directors of Security, and military commanders at state levels. Our appreciation for the sacrifices made and still being made by our military and security officers is deep. That is why we speak out about those saddled with immense responsibility two years ago who seem to view security management as a persistent exercise in propaganda and make-belief, and as cover for diverting public funds and abusing power with impunity.
Neither the ONSA nor the Kaduna State Government can stop the exercise of constitutional rights to associate with others, have meetings, express opinions and alternatives to the fictitious narrative of officialdom. They are advised to concentrate their efforts on solving security issues, rather than seeing in the misery of affected citizens opportunities to claim false glories and divert and squander funds.
Insecurity is the menace they ought to eliminate, not opposition voices and platforms. The repeated haranguing by the KDSG of some of its own officials and some security agencies for not disrupting visits and meetings in Kaduna by certain prominent persons is well-known. The thuggery unleashed against the ADC meeting of Saturday, 30 August 2025 shows that those harangued government officials and some officers of security agencies have succumbed to blandishments to sponsor and enable violence against those that legitimately oppose their government. Why is this not attracting the attention of the ONSA as a major security issue? Is it until it leads to anarchy due to total politicization of policing in the state?.
National security is a very serious matter, critical to the peace and prosperity of the country, and the safety and wellbeing of citizens. It is unpatriotic to disguise incompetence in understanding it, much less managing it, as media stunts. In managing difficult circumstances, I recommend a new message to ONSA and its sidekick in Kaduna and elsewhere, the admonition by an African patriot of old: “tell no lies, claim no easy victories.”
Nasir El-Rufai
