A sociopolitical analyst, David West has queried the 70 percent rating of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on security by the Minister of Defence, Christopher Musa.
The defence minister scored the Tinubu’s administration 65 to 70 per cent on security performance as the president marked three years in office on Friday, May 29.
The minister claimed that terrorism had been drastically reduced to isolated kidnapping incidents, even as a wave of school abductions across several states continues to be a big challenge for the nation.
Musa spoke on a live television on Friday to mark three years of the administration.
“I’ll give ourselves 65 to 70,” he said when asked to rate the government’s performance, adding that no nation was entirely free from crime.
“Yes. 65 to 70%. No nation is totally free from crime and criminality. I’m sure you are aware that the level of terrorism across the country has actually drastically reduced.
“Now we have acts of terrorism, and terrorism, like I said, is a social vice, a failure of family values,” he said.
The minister framed kidnapping largely as a societal crisis rather than a security failure, pointing to the breakdown of family structure as the root cause.
“We have fathers kidnapping children, children kidnapping each other, brothers kidnapping sisters. It tells you that something is wrong with the family, and we need to look inward to see how we can develop those aspects,” he said.
His comments came days after a wave of school abductions jolted the country.
Reacting to the minister’s claim, West described it as a political statement, adding that Musa was just merely doing his job and not speaking according to the security situation in Nigeria.
He said ” over 82 pupils who were abducted between May 13 and 15 during separate attacks in Borno and Oyo states are still held hostage.
“In Borno, 42 pupils were kidnapped after armed groups attacked schools in Askira Uba and Chibok local government areas on May 13 and 14.
“In Oyo, another 40 pupils were abducted on May 15 during coordinated attacks on Baptist Nursery and Primary School, Yawota, Community Grammar School, and L.A. Primary School, Esiele, in Oriire Local Government Area.
“Yet somebody is rating the president 70 percent on security. The defence minister is supposed to have resigned under normal circumstances,” the analyst stated.
During the Oyo attack, mathematics teacher Michael Oyedokun was beheaded by the gunmen, a motorcyclist was killed, and a security operative died after running into improvised explosive devices planted by the abductors during early rescue attempts.
The Defence Headquarters attributed the Oyo kidnapping to terrorists of the JAS group that had been dislodged from other parts of the country due to high-intensity military operations.
Following the Borno attack, the state government temporarily closed and relocated Government Day Secondary School, Mussa, in Askira/Uba Local Government Area.
Amnesty International said at least 1,100 people had been abducted from January to April 2026 alone, describing the trend as a continuing failure of protection for vulnerable populations.
The Oyo and Borno abductions are the latest in a sustained pattern. In April, gunmen abducted 23 pupils and the wife of a school proprietor in an attack on an orphanage and school facility in the Zariagi area of Lokoja, Kogi State.
Troops of the 12 Brigade, Nigerian Army, subsequently rescued the remaining nine victims during coordinated operations on May 6, 2026, under Operation Tiger Paw II.
In November 2025, Nigeria also recorded a resurgence of mass abductions, with at least 145 people kidnapped in Kebbi, Niger, and Zamfara states within four days.
Among those incidents was a raid on a government secondary school in Maga, Kebbi State, in which bandits killed the vice principal and abducted 25 schoolgirls from their hostel.
Musa said those engaged in kidnapping were driven by greed and a refusal to embrace honest labour, calling for a shift in values around wealth creation.
“People need to understand that to make money, you must work very hard. Don’t look for shortcuts. Most of those taking part in kidnappings and related crimes are looking for shortcuts,” he said.
