A former commander of Operation Safe Haven, Major General Henry Ayoola (rtd), has dismissed claims that Nigerian soldiers purchasing personal military kits is evidence of systemic failure within the armed forces.

His comments come after a viral interview by a former soldier, Rotimi Olamilekan, popularly known as Soja Boi, who alleged that personnel buy uniforms, boots, and bulletproof vests despite low pay.

Ayoola, while appearing as a guest on Channels Television’s breakfast show, Morning Brief on Friday, explained that it is not unusual for personnel to supplement standard-issue equipment with personal purchases.

“The idea of a soldier, out of personal choice, spending money to improve their kit beyond the standard issue should not be a big deal,” he said.

He insisted that such actions do not indicate that authorities are failing in their responsibility to equip troops.

“It does not mean the system is not working. There is a standard kit that the Armed Forces provide, and that has not changed,” Ayoola argued.

According to the former commander, every soldier is entitled to a baseline level of equipment under what is known as a “full-service matching order”.

“There is a minimum standard of kit that every soldier must be given. It is not true to say that authorities are not kitting soldiers,” he added.

Ayoola acknowledged that operational realities sometimes affect the availability of equipment but emphasised that commanders make efforts to optimise resources.

“When equipment is limited, it is rationalised. There is innovation, and sometimes troops make do with what is available,” he explained.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Army on Tuesday dismissed allegations that its personnel purchase uniforms and protective equipment with personal funds, describing the claims as false and misleading.

“For the avoidance of doubt, no soldier is deployed to an operational theatre without the necessary protective equipment,” a statement from the Acting Director of Army Public Relations, Appolonia Anele, read.

Security Challenges: A Power Struggle
Beyond the controversy over military equipment and uniforms, Ayoola argued that the broader challenge facing Nigeria is often misunderstood and misrepresented.

He maintained that insecurity in the country should not be viewed solely through a military lens but rather as part of a deeper structural issue.

“What we are dealing with in Nigeria is not just a security challenge. The adversary has shaped a narrative that we have come to accept without properly interrogating it,” he said.

According to him, the crisis reflects a wider struggle rooted in power dynamics and competing ideologies.

“The real issue is a political power problem. The Nigerian situation is a local manifestation of a global trend—a clash of civilisations,” Ayoola stated.

He criticised the country’s approach to tackling insecurity, noting that the failure to clearly define the problem has led to ineffective solutions.

“You cannot solve a problem you have not defined. What we have been doing is like cutting branches without uprooting the tree,” he said.

On concerns about troop vulnerability, including ambush incidents, Ayoola pointed to increasing technological support in military operations.

“There has been increased use of ISR—Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance—drones to cover flanks and move ahead of troops, which helps minimise ambushes,” he said.

He insisted that while improvements are always needed, the narrative that soldiers are left entirely unequipped is inaccurate.

Ayoola stressed that a lack of consensus on who the country’s true adversaries are continues to undermine national security efforts.

“If we cannot clearly define who the enemy is and what they want, then we will continue chasing shadows,” he warned.

By Ademola Oshodi

Armed groups operating across Nigeria’s northern and western corridors have adapted faster than the structures designed to contain them. They attack within Nigerian territory, withdraw across borders, and return with renewed capacity. This pattern persists because enforcement has often stopped where the threat does not. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration is establishing a different standard. Nigeria will not accept cross-border sanctuary as a condition of its security environment.

This position is best described as the “No Sanctuary Doctrine”. It holds that any territory used to stage or sustain attacks against Nigeria falls within Nigeria’s operational security concern, subject to existing legal frameworks.
Sovereignty is exercised through the protection of citizens and the denial of operational space to hostile actors. Where the threat is transnational, the response must be equally so.

Nigeria already operates within a lawful structure that enables this approach. The Multinational Joint Task Force, established by the Lake Chad Basin Commission and supported by the African Union, provides for coordinated military operations against terrorist groups across Nigeria, Niger, Chad, and Cameroon. Its operational design permits cross-border action under agreed command and rules of engagement. Nigeria has maintained a central leadership role within this force since its reconstitution in 2015. The issue is not the absence of authority, but the need for consistent application and clarity about what that authority covers.

Since 2023, disruptions in regional political order have weakened coordination. Coups in parts of the Sahel have affected intelligence sharing and joint patrol structures. Armed groups have used these gaps to expand movement across the tri-border areas. Nigeria has absorbed the consequences through increased pressure on border communities and critical trade routes. The response cannot depend on the restoration of ideal political conditions. It must proceed within the frameworks that remain in force.

The Tinubu administration has reinforced this framework through targeted bilateral arrangements. In August 2024, Nigeria and Niger concluded a memorandum of understanding on defence cooperation to reinforce joint responses to security threats. This reflects a standing recognition across the region that insecurity in border areas is shared and must be addressed through coordinated action. These mechanisms are active instruments of defence and will be used as such.

President Tinubu’s engagement with ECOWAS reflects this position. Nigeria has supported the development of a regional standby force for counter-terrorism and restored financial commitments to the bloc, including over N169 billion in community levy payments between January 2023 and July 2024. A functioning regional mechanism requires both authority and funding. Nigeria has acted on both. This leadership has also been evident in moments of political tension within the sub-region, including its response to the attempted coup in the Benin Republic, where Nigeria’s diplomatic and security engagement contributed to stabilising the situation without escalation. This approach reinforces Nigeria’s role as a responsible security anchor in West Africa.

At the continental level, Nigeria has aligned diplomacy with operational capacity. At the African Union summit in February 2025, Nigeria supported the renewal of the Multinational Joint Task Force mandate and the upgrade of the National Counter Terrorism Centre to a Regional Counter Terrorism Centre. Nigeria also entered into a Strategic Sea Lift Services agreement with the African Union to support peace operations, disaster response, and humanitarian logistics. Within this broader continental architecture, there is also scope for deeper South-South collaboration within the region. ECOWAS can further improve its counter-terrorism ecosystem by facilitating cooperation among member states with advanced capabilities, including countries such as Côte d’Ivoire, whose counter-terrorism infrastructure offers practical models for intelligence coordination and response.

This regional approach is reinforced by a set of international partnerships aligned with the same objective. Engagement with the United States through the Joint Working Group supports intelligence sharing, training, and defence coordination. Cooperation with the United Kingdom includes defence collaboration and the development of customs data exchange systems between the Nigeria Customs Service and HM Revenue and Customs to strengthen border monitoring. The Strategic Dialogue Mechanism with Brazil, concluded in June 2025, adds further capacity through defence cooperation in training and intelligence. Together, these partnerships expand Nigeria’s capacity to detect, track, and respond to threats before they materialise within its territory, while complementing regional efforts.

These engagements support a defined operational objective: to deny armed groups sanctuary around Nigeria’s borders. Nigeria will act through the Multinational Joint Task Force, bilateral agreements, and regional mechanisms to ensure that border proximity does not provide protection for armed groups. Cross-border action will be coordinated, intelligence-led, and executed within agreed legal frameworks, supported by deeper intelligence integration with neighbouring states. As this approach develops, there is a growing case within ECOWAS for more integrated data systems across member states. A coordinated framework linking national identity databases, border control systems, and security agencies would enable early identification of persons of interest across jurisdictions and strengthen collective response capacity.

Ultimately, this doctrine does not seek conflict with neighbouring states, but alignment against a shared threat environment. Where cooperation is available, it will be deepened. Where political conditions limit coordination, Nigeria will continue to act within existing agreements to protect its territory and its citizens. Delay in the face of active threats carries measurable costs in lives, displacement, and economic disruption.

The “No Sanctuary Doctrine” establishes a measurable standard for policy execution. It removes ambiguity from Nigeria’s response to cross-border insecurity. It affirms that territorial defence includes the denial of external staging grounds for attacks. It places Nigeria in its established role as the principal security actor within its immediate region.

This posture carries clear operational demands. Political conditions in the Sahel are unstable. Partner states face their own governance pressures. Domestic security challenges also require sustained internal coordination. Efforts to control the proliferation of small arms and light weapons remain critical, particularly in addressing the role of illicit arms flows and local manufacturing networks that sustain non-state actors. Strengthening existing institutions responsible for arms control, alongside greater accountability within border communities affected by cross-border insurgent activity, will complement external security efforts and reinforce national stability.
President Tinubu has set this direction. The National Assembly, regional partners, and Nigeria’s security institutions are part of its execution. Its results will determine the stability of Nigeria’s borderlands and the credibility of the state’s most basic responsibility: the protection of its citizens.


-Oshodi is Senior Special Assistant to President Tinubu on International Affairs and Protocol

In a blistering critique that has sent shockwaves through Nigerian political circles today, April 9, 2026, renowned commentator Kio Amachree has characterized Nigeria not as a sovereign nation, but as the “private estate” of Lebanese-Nigerian billionaire Gilbert Chagoury.

Writing from Stockholm following a meeting with a high-level Swiss banker, Amachree detailed a web of multi-billion dollar contracts, national honours, and family business ties that he claims have turned Nigeria into a global laughingstock.

The $12.7 Billion Portfolio

The central allegation in Amachree’s report is the sheer scale of federal patronage funneled to the Chagoury Group since President Bola Tinubu took office. Amachree claims that over $12.7 billion in contracts have been awarded to Chagoury-linked firms—most notably Hitech Construction—without competitive bidding.

Key projects cited include:

The Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway: A massive infrastructure project valued between $11 billion and $13 billion.

Port Renovations: The $700 million overhaul of the Tin Can and Apapa ports.
Strategic Assets: The handover of the Snake Island port terminal.

The “Seyi Tinubu” Connection

Amachree highlighted the involvement of the President’s son, Seyi Tinubu, who sits on the board of CDK Integrated Industries, a subsidiary of the Chagoury Group. While the Presidency has previously defended this as a long-standing professional role predating the 2023 election, Amachree argues the optics are “shameful” to international observers.

“The President’s son sits on the board… then goes on television to tell Nigerians his father is not enriching his friends,” Amachree wrote, noting that his Swiss banking contact “laughed the longest” at this particular defense.

“Decorating Corruption”

The report also touched on the controversial conferment of the Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON)—Nigeria’s second-highest national honour—on Gilbert Chagoury in January 2026.

Critics, including Amachree, point to Chagoury’s year 2000 conviction in a Swiss court for laundering funds stolen by the late dictator Sani Abacha. The Swiss banker reportedly told Amachree: “Nigeria will never be taken seriously as long as a man who helped Abacha loot the treasury can return decades later [and] collect billions in contracts.”

Silence from the Villa

The Presidency has yet to issue a direct response to Amachree’s latest piece, though it has historically dismissed such criticisms as “politically motivated attacks” by the opposition. Minister of Works David Umahi has repeatedly insisted that the Chagoury-led projects are “pioneer investments” that follow legal due process.

Amachree’s article concludes with a somber reflection on the “weight of a country that deserves so much better,” a sentiment that has resonated deeply with Nigerians on social media as the 2027 election cycle begins to heat up.