President Bola Tinubu don appoint a Special Adviser on Homeland Security, and dis announcement catch many pipo off guard. No further explanation come out, so plenty interpretations dey fly around. Wetin be homeland security? Wetin di president get for mind? Na questions wey dey make pipo think.
Di worst tin President Tinubu fit do na to play politics with security. Politics and security no be friends; dem be enemies. Former President Buhari maybe play politics with security, and e partly responsible for where we dey today, especially for Boko Haram war. Yes, dia were gains, but e fit better. Dat one na past. Our present reality grim, so we must take security serious.
Homeland security na di bread and butter of internal security. Di bread taste beta when e butter. E entail plenty, but I go take one aspect: border security. Dis na di heartbeat of homeland security. Na our fence against di world. If dat fence absent, broken, or breached, tins go fall apart. Security agencies go struggle with unauthorised influx of people, arms, ideologies.
Recently, news come say a Nigerian be second-in-command of ISIS. Dis jolt many, but e no surprise me. Na stale news. Why? Because we no take border security serious. For June 2025, General Christopher Musa, as Chief of Defence Staff, raise alarm about our porous borders. E rate Niger Republic border as most dangerous and vulnerable. E warn say Sahel region make Nigeria attractive target for terrorist groups like Boko Haram, ISWAP, and Lakurawa.
Di Sahel region na hotbed of extremist groups. Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, and Chad share borders with Nigeria – very porous ones. Na like house with windows without mosquito nets. Di occupants dey use insecticide kill mosquitoes instead of install nets. Dat be our present setup.
I dey sensitive to security issues. Make we no play politics with dis appointment. Even if we get reason, we should downplay am. We no get luxury of time. For asymmetric warfare, di only constant na evolution of strategies to address threats. Wetin I think about adviser on homeland security? My first question: wetin di president want achieve? If e strategic, na commitment to address security challenges. If e political, na disservice to di country.
Responsibilities go overlap. E fit signal information warfare from two advisers towards one president. Dis na di worst tin fit happen to any president for our situation. Di orientation of di two advisers different, and dis fit play out for advisories. I repeat: politics and security no be friends. For conflicting threat assessments, di president become referee. Maybe one adviser go be VAR.
I like di idea of homeland security. Na another name for internal security. For our recent history, internal security operations na preserve of military. Though no originally so, asymmetric warfare make am so. Boko Haram insurgency na internal security operation. E also threat to our territorial integrity and sovereignty. E start as protest and transform to uprising. When group establish parallel state structure, capture territory, tax populations, and operate across porous borders, dem no longer insurgents – dem be terrorists.
Dis fit explain using Contentious Politics Theory by Sidney Tarrow and Charles Tilly. Di core argument: complex interactions between states, societies, and political actors. E state say grievances and identity play crucial role. Grievances refer to perceived injustices wey motivate individuals to collective action. Identity, based on ethnicity, religion, or ideology, fit serve as unifying force. Dis na di trajectory of Boko Haram for Nigeria.
I dey take concept of homeland security serious and curious to find out wetin di president get up sleeve. If dis new setup aim to rejig present security architecture, I dey support because e long overdue. Nothing good or bad. Some whisper say di president appoint Special Adviser on Homeland Security because e lose faith in National Security Adviser. Na assumption. E illogical to take assumption for reality. Di president make appointment; di notice no state e lose faith. Fairness demand we give di president benefit of doubt.
Di commentary on dis appointment no necessary. Commentary should be about wetin homeland security be and wetin difference e go make. I no privy to motives of di president. E fit get reasons, and na within e purview as Commander-in-Chief. I like di idea of homeland security. E laudable. E no alien. According to William Shakespeare, nothing is either good or bad, but thinking makes it so. Di decision neither good nor bad. E depend on how we interpret am. Dis na food for thought.
Ocheja, PhD, an alumnus of Nigerian Defence Academy, be military historian and creative writer. E author of ISIS, ISWAP and Nigeria (2026).
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