Abuja: The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has called on the Federal Government to take proactive leadership in managing security communications nationwide. The opposition party stressed that timely and transparent updates from government authorities are essential to reassure citizens and strengthen trust in ongoing counter‑terrorism efforts.
The party gave the advice in a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Ini Ememobong, in Abuja on Friday, while reacting to the US military airstrikes on terrorists’ targets in Sokoto State on Christmas Day.
Ememobong said that Nigerians were notified of the American strike on terrorists’ assets through the verified social media pages of President Donald Trump and other American officials.
He said that this was confirmed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ spokesperson in a statement many hours later, offering “a passive confirmation of the knowledge and cooperation of the Nigerian government in the operation.”
Ememobong further stated that while international cooperation in the fight against serious crimes such as terrorism was highly appreciated, the PDP was deeply concerned about the communication structure.
He particularly said that the party was concerned about why foreign powers had broken the news of security operations in the country before the Nigerian government could.
Ememobong noted that the ‘inverted communication’ approach did not help the federal government or Nigerians.
This, he said, was more so when there were reports alleging that the US military had previously entered and operated in Nigeria successfully without the permission and knowledge of the government.
According to him, the federal government should have been the first to report the news to properly sensitise the Nigerian populace, rather than wait to confirm news already in public circulation.
“We urge the federal government to ensure that the defence agreement with the USA includes joint operations,” he said.
This, he said, ultimately results in knowledge sharing and experiential learning to help Nigeria sustainably combat insecurity rather than full externally led ‘precision attacks’.
