The Presidency and Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President have clashed over Nigeria’s worsening security crisis, with Atiku linking 5,091 reported deaths in three months to alleged fiscal waste and governance failures, while the Bola Tinubu administration countered that security agencies killed between 13,000 and 20,000 terrorists and rescued more than 10,000 Nigerians during the same period.
Temitope Ajayi, a senior special assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, made the rebuttal in an interview, responding to a statement issued earlier on Sunday by Atiku’s Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu.
The dispute has turned security into a broader political and economic argument ahead of the 2027 presidential election, with Atiku questioning whether government spending is delivering adequate protection for citizens, while the Presidency insists that intensified military operations are producing measurable results.
Ajayi accused Atiku of highlighting deaths while ignoring the financial and operational costs of the government’s offensive against terrorists, bandits and kidnappers.
‘In the last three months, the security agencies have, according to official figures, killed between 13,000 to 20,000 terrorists. They have rescued at least 10,000 Nigerians across the DSS, the police, the military,’ Ajayi said.
He cited the rescue of 308 Nigerians abducted in Kwara and Niger states as evidence that security agencies were making progress, adding that women, children and men had been rescued from kidnappers, bandits and Boko Haram insurgents across the country.
Ajayi accused Atiku of deliberately ignoring such achievements because they did not fit his political narrative.
‘He cannot focus on that because it doesn’t serve his politics of despair. All he wants to focus on is despondency to sell fear to Nigerians,’ he said.
Atiku, the African Democratic Congress presidential candidate, had described the reported 5,091 deaths as a ‘damning indictment’ of the Tinubu administration, arguing that protecting lives and property remained the government’s most fundamental constitutional responsibility.
‘Behind every number is a Nigerian whose life was cut short, a family thrown into mourning, children deprived of parents and communities condemned to fear,’ Atiku said.
The former Vice President linked the insecurity to what he described as fiscal indiscipline, wasteful spending and poor implementation of appropriated funds, arguing that security agencies could not effectively confront terrorism and kidnapping without adequate equipment, operational funding and welfare.
‘A government that cannot protect its citizens has failed the first test of governance,’ he said.
Atiku also welcomed the recent increase in military pay but said improved salaries alone would not resolve the operational challenges confronting troops on the frontline.
His intervention has widened the security debate into an economic argument, with insecurity disrupting farming, trade and investment while increasing the cost of doing business in affected communities.
The Presidency, however, maintains that security agencies are not only conducting rescue operations but are eliminating terrorists, disrupting their logistics networks and arresting suppliers and informants.
Separately, Force spokesperson Ani Iniedu disputed Atiku’s assessment, saying available security intelligence indicated that violent crime had ‘drastically reduced’ over the past six months.
The confrontation comes as Tinubu’s administration seeks to demonstrate that increased security operations are translating into greater protection for Nigerians, while Atiku seeks to turn insecurity into evidence of wider failures in governance and fiscal priorities.
With the 2027 election approaching, the security debate is increasingly becoming a contest over more than casualty figures. It is also a battle over whether government spending is delivering security, economic stability and confidence for Nigerians.