Nigeria Not Under Siege, People Travel Safely Every Day – Presidency Counters Insecurity Fears

The Presidency has said Nigeria is not under siege despite the security problems being reported in some parts of the country.

Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, made this known during an appearance on Arise TV on Tuesday.

According to him, reports of attacks, kidnappings and other crimes often create the impression that the whole country is unsafe, whereas such incidents occur in specific areas and do not reflect the situation across the nation.

Naija News reports that he said many Nigerians still travel from one part of the country to another without facing security threats.

Onanuga noted that several people continue to undertake long-distance road trips and arrive safely at their destinations.

To support his position, he referred to his own road trip from Lagos to Oyo for a burial ceremony. He also mentioned a recent discussion with the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, who reportedly travelled by road from Abuja to Kebbi State.

He said: “I travelled from Lagos to Oyo to attend a burial ceremony. Don’t let people…the problem in Nigeria is that the media is even creating many problems. The way they report insecurity as if the entire country is consumed.

“Some people do it. I know someone that does it. In fact, some came to my office yesterday. The executive secretary of the NELFUND. He told himself, I didn’t ask him. He said he drove from Abuja to Kebbi by road.

“Don’t let people frighten you that the entire country is under siege. It’s not so. There are security breaches.

“Any time I read about a kidnap or an attack somewhere, sometimes I look at the time. I said, wow, it happened around 8pm, 9pm, sometimes 1am.

“Sometimes ago, the police told people to stop traveling at night. That was before President Bola Tinubu.”