President Bola Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Policy Communication, Daniel Bwala, has defended his principal’s decade-old demand that former President Goodluck Jonathan step down following the abduction of the Chibok schoolgirls in 2014. Speaking on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Wednesday, Bwala insisted that Tinubu’s call at the time was “legitimate”, given the severity of the incident and the government’s initial response.
In 2014, Tinubu—then a leading opposition figure—accused Jonathan’s administration of failing to secure Nigeria after Boko Haram militants abducted 276 schoolgirls from Government Secondary School, Chibok. The kidnapping, the first mass school abduction in the country, sparked global outrage and became a defining moment in Nigeria’s struggle with insecurity.
Today, with mass abductions of schoolchildren resurfacing under Tinubu’s own administration, critics have revisited his earlier demands for accountability. However, Bwala maintained that the situations are not identical.
“In the days of Jonathan, they didn’t have an idea of the solution,” he argued. “They were in denial about the Chibok girls’ kidnapping. When President Tinubu, then Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, called for Jonathan’s resignation, it was a legitimate call.”
Bwala claimed that under Jonathan, terrorists had entrenched themselves in parts of northern Nigeria, going as far as collecting taxes from residents. He contrasted this with what he described as Tinubu’s “zero-tolerance approach” to negotiating with kidnappers.
He acknowledged that previous governments—faced with imminent threats to the lives of captives—sometimes resorted to negotiation. “If your duty is to preserve the life of people, and citizens are in danger, and negotiation is the only way to save them, then you have to do all that you need to do,” he said.
However, he argued that paying ransoms ultimately strengthens criminal groups by providing funds for arms and operations. “You are constructively financing terrorism without knowing it,” he said. According to Bwala, the Tinubu administration refuses to adopt policies that could inadvertently bankroll terrorists.
Nigeria has witnessed a resurgence of school kidnappings in recent months, affecting several states and heightening public anxiety over student safety. The spike in abductions has renewed scrutiny of the federal government’s counterterrorism strategies, with critics questioning whether current measures are sufficient to curb the activities of armed groups.
Despite mounting pressure, Bwala insisted that the government remains committed to dismantling terrorist networks without resorting to ransom payments or negotiations that could reinforce criminal enterprises.
