The Presidency has faulted a recent report by London-based news magazine The Economist which criticised the handling of security by the Buhari administration.
The Economist had also said the “inept and heavy handed” administration has failed to tackle corruption.
It claimed the Nigerian Army was only “strong on paper,” and that it had ghost workers on its payroll and often sold equipment to insurgents who destabilise the nation.
The Economist, which said economic hardship was fuelling the current insecurity in the country, added that life had become more difficult for Nigerians as food prices skyrocketed because of the administration’s mismanagement of the economy.
However, in a statement on Sunday night, presidential spokesman Garba Shehu said Nigeria faces multiple threats because the Buhari administration decided to face them unlike previous administrations.
The statement said The Economist opinionated on banditry and kidnapping in the north-west, explaining that “While this has been simmering for generations, it is the newest of the organized threats Nigeria faces to her stability. But this too the Economist inaccurately described: ‘bandits’ who have the resources and technology to shoot down a military fighter jet are not bandits at all – but rather highly organised crime syndicates with huge resources and weaponry.
“Yet they are essentially no different to Boko Haram in this regard who are now cornered. It will take time, but the President is unwavering in his determination to collapse this challenge to public order.”
The presidential aide said the arrest and present trial of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra Nnamdi Kanu, which he stressed The Economist rightly describes as “delusional” was the beginning of its demise.
“It is important to remind the Economist and the global media that this group’s aggression and widespread presence on social media does not reflect their public support, for which they have none: all elected governors, all elected politicians and all elected state assemblies in the South-East – which IPOB claim to be part of their fantasy kingdom – reject them completely,” the statement added.
