The Federal Government has disclosed that it has reached out to Turkey for assistance as part of efforts to address Nigeria’s persistent insecurity challenges.
President Bola Tinubu made this known on Friday while receiving a delegation of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), led by its President, Archbishop Daniel Okoh, at his Lagos residence. The meeting was confirmed in a statement issued by the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga.
Tinubu urged CAN to continue working with his administration in the pursuit of national peace and stability, noting that several security measures already initiated by the government would take time to yield results.
“The mood of the nation is peaceful, although our ungoverned spaces are so large. The challenge is real, but we will surmount it,” the President said.
He added that Nigeria’s deeply religious nature should translate into collective vigilance and cooperation in confronting insecurity.
“We are very religious. We are prayer warriors. We need your focus, vigilance, and cooperation,” he stated.
President Tinubu also reiterated plans to establish Community and State Police, stressing that the initiative would become a reality once the National Assembly completes the necessary legislative processes.
“Community and State Police will be a reality once the National Assembly completes the required legislative inputs. Military hardware is difficult to replace; it is expensive and not available off the shelf,” he said.
Addressing Nigeria’s military procurement efforts, the President revealed that although the country has ordered four attack helicopters from the United States, their delivery would take time, prompting the government to seek additional support from Turkey.
“Our orders for four attack helicopters from the United States of America will take some time to arrive. We have approached Turkey for assistance,” Tinubu disclosed.
The development comes amid recent security cooperation between Nigeria and the United States, following airstrikes carried out against terrorist targets in North-West Nigeria.
US President Donald Trump had announced via his Truth Social platform on Thursday that American forces conducted strikes in the region, resulting in the killing of several terrorists. The Nigerian government later confirmed that the operation was carried out in collaboration with US authorities.
However, the development has attracted criticism from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which faulted the Federal Government for failing to inform Nigerians before the US President publicly announced the strikes.
In a statement on Friday, PDP spokesman Ini Ememobong said the government ought to have briefed the public ahead of the disclosure by US authorities.
“The Federal Government should have been the first to report the news in order to properly sensitise the Nigerian populace, instead of waiting to confirm information already in public circulation, unless they were taken unawares like the rest of the citizens,” Ememobong said.
Meanwhile, Islamic cleric Sheikh Abubakar Gumi has also criticised the US military involvement, calling on Nigeria to immediately halt all military cooperation with the United States.
In a post on his Facebook page on Friday, Gumi warned that foreign military intervention, particularly by the US, could worsen insecurity rather than resolve it.
“Nigeria should halt all military cooperation with the USA immediately because of its imperial tendencies worldwide and seek the help of those neutral countries mentioned,” he wrote.
The cleric urged the Federal Government to instead seek counter-terrorism partnerships with what he described as neutral countries, including China, Turkey and Pakistan, arguing that such alliances would be less polarizing.
