Nigeria Is at War, Security Architecture Must Be Overhauled — Olawepo-Hashim.

Presidential candidate of the Accord Party, Dr. Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, has declared that Nigeria is in a state of war, calling on the Federal Government to urgently overhaul the country’s security architecture to defeat terrorism and restore national safety.

Olawepo-Hashim, in a statement, condemned the recent wave of killings across Kaduna, Zamfara, Plateau and other states, as well as the abduction of citizens in Kebbi State, including a High Court judge.

He urged the government to reclaim the strategic initiative from terrorists by adopting a proactive security approach focused on preventing attacks rather than responding after they occur.

The Accord Party chieftain argued that the continued attacks across the country show that terrorists and armed criminal groups are still determining the timing, location and scale of attacks.

“Nigeria is under attack. This is war. As long as terrorists determine the time, place and intensity of attacks, they, and not the government, retain the strategic initiative,” Olawepo-Hashim stated.

He claimed that more than 30,000 people had been killed in the first three years of the current administration, while millions of internally displaced persons remained unable to return to their homes.

According to him, the scale of insecurity has become a national emergency that threatens national unity, worsens poverty, undermines food security, discourages investment and damages Nigeria’s global image.
Olawepo-Hashim criticised the nation’s current security response as largely reactive, insisting that Nigeria needs a comprehensive national security strategy built around intelligence superiority, offensive military operations, effective border control, community-based policing, modern surveillance systems, disruption of terrorist financing and a credible criminal justice system.

He also called for stronger defence and security cooperation with neighbouring countries to address cross-border threats.