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Daniel Bwala, President Bola Tinubu’s adviser on policy communication, has defended the President’s past call for former President Goodluck Jonathan to resign following the abduction of the Chibok schoolgirls, insisting the criticism was legitimate given the circumstances at the time.
The 2014 kidnapping, which was Nigeria’s first major mass school abduction, sparked global outrage. Tinubu, then a former Lagos State governor and leading opposition figure, accused Jonathan of failing to secure the country and demanded his resignation.
With insecurity and school kidnappings now rising under Tinubu’s administration, many Nigerians have resurfaced his old comments, questioning whether the same standard applies today. But speaking on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Wednesday, Bwala maintained that Tinubu’s stance at the time was justified.
“In the days of Jonathan, they didn’t have an idea of the solution… They were in denial about the Chibok girls’ kidnapping,” Bwala said. “When President Tinubu, then Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, called for Jonathan’s resignation, it was a legitimate call.”
He argued that under Jonathan’s administration, terrorists “occupied some local governments” and collected taxes, whereas under Tinubu, attackers “tend to attack and flee” without establishing territorial control.
Bwala also emphasized that the Tinubu administration maintains a strict zero-tolerance policy toward negotiating with terrorist groups. He noted that Nigeria’s security challenges have sometimes pushed past governments to consider unconventional measures.
“There was a time the federal government was negotiating with terrorists, and I think el-Rufai once talked about a national policy at that time, when they said both states and the federal government could be in situations where they would have to negotiate,” he said.
He added that the priority in such moments was to save lives, even if negotiation was the only available option. However, he said Tinubu rejected this approach because ransom payments ultimately strengthen terrorist groups.
“President Tinubu came with this zero tolerance on negotiation because it doesn’t fit into terrorism financing. You are constructively financing terrorism without knowing it,” he said. “So instead of elements sponsoring them by giving ransom money to secure hostages, they use the money to buy more weapons. So the federal government does not tolerate the idea of negotiation.”
