Tinubu: My Enemies Want Me Out Using Insecurity, But I’m a Stubborn Politician

President Bola Tinubu has accused unnamed enemies of weaponising Nigeria’s security crisis to drive him from office — and says it will not work. Speaking at the Presidential Villa in Abuja while receiving Plateau State stakeholders led by Governor Caleb Mutfwang on Tuesday night, Tinubu was blunt about what he believes is happening.

“You are playing to the hand of agents, including my own enemies, who want to use insecurity to get rid of me. But I’m a very stubborn politician. I just refuse to go. And I will campaign for my second term,” he said.

The Context

The meeting came a day after Tinubu obtained his nomination form to run for re-election in 2027, making the declaration both timely and deliberate. He was addressing a 32-member Plateau delegation that included former governors, traditional rulers, religious leaders, and lawmakers — convened to discuss the March 29 attack in Angwan Rukuba, Jos North LGA, which killed scores of people.

At the session, Tinubu also approved ₦2 billion in relief support for victims of that attack, with Minister of Humanitarian Affairs Mohammed Dorro announcing the intervention on the spot.

Insecurity as a Political Tool?

Tinubu’s framing is striking. By casting the country’s security failures as something his adversaries are exploiting rather than something his administration has failed to address, he shifts the narrative from accountability to victimhood. Nigeria has faced overlapping crises on multiple fronts — Boko Haram and ISWAP in the North-east, banditry and mass abductions in the North-west, separatist tensions in the South-east, and oil theft in the South-south.

Critics have long argued that his administration has been slow and uncoordinated in its response. Opposition figures and civil society groups have questioned both strategy and outcomes since 2023. The president’s inaugural promise — “Security shall be the top priority of our administration” — remains a live benchmark against which his record is judged.

2027 Declared

By formally vowing to seek a second term, Tinubu has removed whatever ambiguity remained. The political season is now open. His challenge is simple to state and hard to solve: convince Nigerians that the insecurity they experience daily is a conspiracy against him, not a failure of governance.

That is a difficult argument to make when communities are still burying their dead.

Sources: Premium Times, The Sun, Legit.ng