As a concerned citizen of Nigeria and someone who desire a stable structure in tune with the modern dynamics which will invariably bring about security of lives and property, my attention was drawn to a statement credited to Senator representing Osun East, Distinguished Senator Francis Fadahunsi issued through his Special Adviser on Media, Sam Segun – Progress on Tuesday 2 December 2025 at Osogbo and published in Punch online and other social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram and X (formally Twitter) to mention a few.
In the statement, the lawmaker was urging President Tinubu “to further reorganize the nation’s security management team by appointing a retired military officer as the National Security Adviser. He also advised the President to “redeploy the current NSA Malam Nuhu Ribadu to another area of national service where his competence would be better utilised.”
The call by Senator Fadahunsi for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to replace Mallam Nuhu Ribadu with a retired military officer as National Security Adviser reflects a narrow view of national security leadership, a dangerous direction of thought inconsistent with global best practices and Nigeria’s security needs, and a comment that should not go unanswered. Rather than distracting the nation with unnecessary politicization of security appointments, leaders should support efforts already succeeding to strengthen intelligence gathering, improve operational synergy, and pursue lasting peace across the country. What Nigeria needs is results, not recycled arguments rooted in outdated assumptions.
For a proper understanding, it should be noted that the broad dimensions of national security include physical, political, economic, social, food, energy and environmental aspects, which have expanded beyond traditional military concerns to encompass the gamut of modern threats. These dimensions are interconnected and involve protecting a nation’s citizens, infrastructure, and institutions from internal and external threats, such as cyberattacks, economic shocks, pandemics, and climate change, external aggression, etc. Military means is therefore one among many contributing factors to national security, not its essence. This understanding is fundamental to having the right national security strategy and architecture.
Senator Fadahunsi’s suggestion that the President should replace the NSA with a retired military officer exposes a shallow and outdated understanding of modern national security leadership. The policymakers and security specialists of the United States and other climes, whose style of democracy we practice, have always leveraged this for preserving their national security. Among the many who have held that office in the US in recent times is a civilian lawyer, Jake Sullivan, and his predecessor too was a political scientist-turned-lawyer. Regardless of the difference in context, the fact is that the role has successively been held across the globe by civilians with intellectual understanding of the complex realities that undermine national security. Even here on the African continent, in countries like Egypt, the appointment of non-military security insiders and analysts is a proven practice. Few Nigerians are aware that policemen had been in control of ONSA in the past, serving under both military regimes and civilian administrations. Both Gambo Jimeta, a former Inspector-General of Police, and Aliyu Isma’ila Gwarzo, a retired Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG) have served as NSA, and their performance was outstanding because of their recognition of the diverse range of challenges that undermined national security, and their understanding of the relationship between the civilian and military spheres.
What lies at the core of Nigeria’s complex and multifactorial security challenge? Nigerians are bedeviled by internal security collapses that require much more than tanks and other military hardware to combat, without diminishing the need for that. The nation desperately needs ideas and brains to identify the root causes of the conflicts and proffer solutions, hence the need for an NSA who possesses a combination of expertise in statecraft and public policy, mastery of engagement with civilian and military structures, dedication to the nation, as well as experience in internal security and law enforcement, to change the negative security narrative of the country – something that Mallam Ribadu has brought to the table.
Ribadu’s leadership is anchored in deep experience in intelligence, anti-corruption enforcement, inter-agency collaboration and counter-terrorism policy. The NSA is not a combatant position, the unique value they provide is the ability to analyze available information and intelligence to predict the state of security in the nation, hence the critical need for one with an understanding of the socio-cultural and political determinants of conflicts in a country like Nigeria undermined by internal security largely. Today’s security environment demands intelligence, intellectual capacity, integrity and strategic coordination of civilian and military structures, with unwavering patriotism, qualities which Mallam Nuhu Ribadu has demonstrated for decades. He is a square peg in a square hole as the NSA. The idea that only a soldier can manage national security is obsolete.
The notion that only government officials with military backgrounds could command the necessary respect within the armed forces is a dangerous idea to be promoted by anyone in a democracy, and is far from what modern military training delivers to the officers and men of the various services. The proper democratic structure which the military stands ready to uphold and defend, including proper regard for the command of any official appointed by the President and Commander-In-Chief, needs to be reinforced, not weakened as this suggestion by Senator Fadahunsi inadvertently achieves. The role of the NSA will remain suboptimized unless the nation moves away from excessive militarization of the office, particularly for a country where the military is overburdened with taking on responsibilities under the Nigeria Police Force and other internal security agencies.
National security is not all hinged upon and cannot be left to military power and coercion alone, it must enlist the other strengths of our nation to holistically address our challenges, and persuasively engage the world. As a nation we must strengthen the civilian security capabilities we have left to waste for so long. President Bola Ahmed is on track with the appointment of Mallam Nuhu Ribadu and the results that have been delivered so far, this needs only to be sustained for more results in the interest of all Nigerians, and not disrupted by a myopic few.
*Henry Bassey,
Former Lagos State Chairman, Police Campaign Against Cultism and Other Vices.
Currently Head Community Engagement, Police Campaign Against Cultism and Other Vices, South West
Email: bassey.henry373@gmail.com*