A coalition of civil society organisations (CSOs) have commended President Bola Tinubu for his ‘remarkable representation’ of Nigeria at the high-level AQABA Process counter-terrorism summit held recently in Rome, Italy.
The CSOs, which include Inclusive Citizens Advancement Network (Inc-CAN) and Concerned Professionals Congress (CPC), hailed the president’s leadership and strategic security strategy.
In a joint statement issued on Wednesday in Abuja by Inc-CAN’s Convener, Emeka Nwankpa, and CPC’s Northern Rapporteur, Baba Kasim Baba, the coalition described Tinubu’s presentation at the summit as a brilliant, fact-based showcase of Nigeria’s ongoing counter-terrorism efforts.
The CSOs also praised the Nigerian delegation, which included key security and defence figures, for strongly presenting Nigeria’s achievements and security reforms at the summit.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Defence Minister, Badaru Abubakar, National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, Coordinator, National Counter-Terrorism Centre, Maj.-Gen. Adamu Laka, and Director-General, National Intelligence Agency, Mohammed Mohammed, were among those who represented Nigeria at the summit.
Others in the delegation were the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu and some members of Nigeria’s security architecture.
The coalition also welcomed what it called the strong dismissal of “Christian genocide” claims in Nigeria by a U.S. presidential envoy, Massad Boulos, who addressed the matter during his visit to Rome.
It emphasised that the envoy’s rejection of Republican Senator, Ted Cruz’s proposed “Nigeria Religious Freedom Accountability Bill” was timely and helped to ease growing tensions back home.
According to the coalition, Boulos’ clarification that terrorism in Nigeria affects both Muslims and Christians equally is a welcomed rebuttal to the misleading foreign narratives.
While endorsing the envoy’s comments, the CSOs described them as factual, honest and reflective of Nigeria’s current situation, especially in dealing with insurgency and insecurity holistically.
The coalition took a swipe at the foreign voices claiming genocide in Nigeria, describing them as either ignorant or willfully dishonest.
It accused ‘certain foreign voices’ of trying to destabilise Nigeria through misleading claims, especially now that security forces were recording visible gains across several fronts.
According to the group, the conflicts are not being driven by religion, adding that they instead stemmed from criminality, ethnic tensions, land disputes and political sabotage exploited by terror networks and bad actors.
While cautioning media organisations against spreading misinformation, it urged foreign observers to understand that terrorism in Nigeria was ideological and criminal rather being a religious war, as proven by the destruction of both mosques and churches.
The coalition stated that Tinubu inherited a country grappling with insecurity from multiple fronts but had responded with coordinated, intelligence-driven counter-terrorism strategies to restore peace.
It added that the president’s team, led by Ribadu and Laka, was currently implementing multi-layered strategies to tackle insurgency, separatism and oil theft in the country.
