Nigerians Call Out Tinubu for Letting States Beg for Their Own Security to Avoid Taking Responsibility

The pattern is now unmistakable. Every time a serious security threat emerges in any Nigerian state, President Bola Tinubu does not announce a federal intervention. He does not deploy new military battalions. He does not address the nation with a strategy. Instead, he waits. And then the governors speak.

In Plateau State, after another round of deadly attacks, the state government stepped forward with a promise. It would buy 5,000 surveillance drones. In Kwara State, where kidnapping along major highways has become a daily terror, officials promised to “provide more security.” No details. No numbers. Just a phrase that means everything and nothing. In Oyo State, facing bandits hiding in forest reserves, the government pledged to employ 1,000 forest guards.

Three states. Three crises. Three promises from state houses. And from the Presidency? Silence.

This is what the Tinubu administration does each time a state faces a real security threat. The federal government, which holds exclusive constitutional responsibility for law and order across Nigeria, simply disappears from the frame. Governors are left to scramble for drones they cannot afford, forest guards they cannot train, and security promises they cannot keep. The President signs off on trillion naira highway projects and tax reforms while local governments beg for protection.

The viral post that laid this bare did not mince words. It listed the three promises and then addressed the President directly. You are a fool if you think Bola Tinubu’s government has plans to tackle insecurity in Nigeria. The insult is raw, but the argument behind it is cold logic. Where is the federal plan for Plateau? Where is the federal rapid response team for Kwara? Where is the federal forest security initiative for Oyo? There is none. There is only a governor, a microphone, and a press release.

In Plateau: "We will buy 5,000 surveillance drones."

In Kwara: "We will provide more security."

In Oyo: "We will employ 1,000 forest Guards."

YOU ARE A FOOL IF YOU THINK BOLA TINUBU'S GOVERNMENT HAS PLANS TO TACKLE INSECURITY IN NIGERIA.

— Prof™ (@OOlusore) June 1, 2026

This is not a failure of capacity. Nigeria has a military that has fought insurgencies for more than a decade. Nigeria has a police force that takes orders from the President. Nigeria has a National Security Adviser whose office exists precisely to coordinate responses to emerging threats. The resources exist. The command structure exists. What does not exist is the will to use them.

Instead, President Tinubu has perfected a political trick. By forcing state governors to announce their own security measures, he achieves two things. First, he avoids the political cost of admitting that federal security has failed. Second, he creates a convenient scapegoat. If the drones do not arrive, blame the governor. If the forest guards are not trained, blame the governor. If kidnappings continue, blame the governor. The federal government remains untouchable, invisible, and useless.

Nigerians in Plateau, Kwara, and Oyo see through this. They know that a state government cannot buy 5,000 surveillance drones without federal import waivers. They know that forest guards require federal firearms licenses and federal training. They know that “providing more security” is a phrase that has never stopped a single bullet. What they do not see is the President. He is in Abuja, cutting ribbons for coastal highways, while bandits cut down their neighbors.

The cruelty of this strategy is that it pretends to be action. A governor announcing drones sounds like a solution. A governor announcing forest guards sounds like a plan. But these are Band Aid promises on a hemorrhage. The federal government alone has the air force for surveillance. The federal government alone has the army for ground operations. The federal government alone has the intelligence apparatus to track bandits across state lines. By refusing to use these tools, President Tinubu is not managing insecurity. He is managing blame.

Every Nigerian now understands the Tinubu doctrine. When a state burns, wait for the governor to promise something. Do nothing federal. Say nothing federal. Let the local politicians take the questions and the criticism. Then, months later, when the drones have not arrived and the guards have not been hired and the kidnappings have not stopped, the Presidency will be nowhere to be found. The governor will face the voters alone. And the President will sign another highway contract.

This is not leadership. This is abandonment dressed as federalism. And the tweet that went viral this week did not create this reality. It simply named it. Three promises. One absence. A nation left to defend itself while its President watches from a distance.

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