Insecurity Escalation: Owolabi Salis Calls on Tinubu to Be Aggressive, Improve Troop Welfare for Military Superiority.
Owolabi Salis, a former Lagos governorship candidate, called on President Tinubu to implement an urgent and aggressive strategy against escalating insecurity. Issuing a warning from Abuja on Monday, Salis pointed to the recent surge in abductions and terror attacks as proof that criminal groups are becoming bolder, especially during the dry season—a period typically associated with heightened insurgent activity. He delivered a stark warning: “We should not wait until these dare-devil bandits overrun the country or even attack the Presidential Villa… before it dawns on us that they really mean business.” Salis advised the President and Vice President Shettima to seek inspiration from the decisive, personal leadership of the late Chadian President Idriss Déby in military offensives.
Salis clarified that his reference to the late Chadian President Idriss Déby was not an instruction for the President and Vice President to physically lead battles, but rather a call for them to “imbibe the monomaniac fury with which the late Chadian President tried to grapple with the knotty question of terrorism during his lifetime.” He stressed the critical need to build Nigeria into a true military superpower capable of both deterring internal threats and commanding global respect. To achieve this, Salis argued that Nigeria’s military must develop “sufficient numerical superiority capable of responding with impregnable resilience and adroit competence to multi-faceted areas of threat and tiresome crises of protracted nature.”
The former candidate advocated for increased remuneration to improve troop welfare, arguing that meager pay was killing morale and hindering the attraction of quality recruits. He stated that earnings should be reviewed to a “meaningful proportion commensurate with the life-saving nature of their job.” Salis recounted a recent, tragic incident where a senior army officer was killed by ISWAP, labeling it a humiliating embarrassment that revealed the Nigerian military’s weaknesses. He criticized the fact that the troops, including a Brigadier-General, were forced into a chaotic, frightful escape by the attackers’ superior firepower, rather than engaging formidably. He felt the incident was deeply unfortunate and “irredeemably costly,” making Nigeria appear vulnerable on the world stage. Salis concluded by expressing the profound personal distress the tragedy caused him, saying the officer’s death “spawned such a monstrous nightmare that I could hardly sleep.”
Salis’ warning was issued barely 24 hours after the release of 100 pupils who had been abducted from St. Mary’s Private Catholic Primary and Secondary School in Papiri, Niger State. The abduction, which triggered national alarm, occurred on November 21 when gunmen, arriving on motorbikes around 2 a.m., stormed the school in a well-coordinated three-hour night raid. The attackers initially abducted a total of 315 persons (303 students and 12 teachers), making it one of Nigeria’s largest mass kidnappings since the 2014 Chibok incident. While 50 students escaped within the first 24 hours, 265 victims remained captive until the Sunday breakthrough. The attack has amplified public anxiety and spurred renewed demands for a comprehensive, proactive security strategy, directly mirroring the fears expressed in Salis’ warning.
