Nigeria declares security emergency and names diplomats amid US tensions

Tinubu is mired in his deepest crisis since taking office in May 2023. Widespread insecurity — long a major source of discontent at home — has now taken on an international dimension with the Trump administration’s threats, damaging Abuja’s relations with Washington.

The White House’s sudden interest in Nigerian insecurity may be new, but the underlying problems are not. Mass abductions have plagued Nigeria’s northern states over the last decade, since the 2014 kidnap of nearly 300 schoolgirls in the northeastern town of Chibok sparked copycat attacks. Since then, kidnap-for-ransom has become endemic in much of the country, although it’s concentrated in northwestern states where marauding criminal gangs terrorize communities that lack protection from security forces. The government inherited a dire security situation from the previous administration, but Tinubu failed to take steps to tackle the problem.

The roots of the international dimension to this crisis, meanwhile, lie in Tinubu’s failure to fill key ambassadorial posts after hollowing out the diplomatic service shortly after he came to power. For the last two years, Nigeria’s government has lacked respected officials acting as its eyes and ears overseas, advocating for Abuja through backchannels. It meant there was nobody in Washington to counter the claims of Christian persecution.

Tinubu is finally trying to put out these fires — but he faces more challenges ahead. The plan to add thousands of police officers and deploy more soldiers is a practical step, but that increased presence will need to be matched by funding. For years, Nigerian soldiers have recounted stories of being outgunned by militants and criminal gangs. Troops have long complained of being underpaid and lacking modern weapons. Add to that the fact that Nigeria’s armed forces are adjusting to leadership changes announced a few weeks ago, and it’s clear that any increased deployments will take time to be rolled out.

The diplomats will also need to have an impact. The nominees must first be screened by Nigerian lawmakers before they are approved. And, assuming they get the go-ahead, it would take several months — and maybe years — to build meaningful relationships. For weeks, Nigeria’s government has been under pressure to respond to the White House’s accusations, and its pushback has so far been restricted to conversations in Abuja between the foreign ministry and presidency.

Tinubu has finally taken steps in the right direction but he’ll need time.

Ayodele Oke, one of the nominees who could become the US ambassador, represented Nigeria at the Commonwealth Secretariat in London in the late 2000s. He is best known for leading Nigeria’s National Intelligence Agency — tasked with spying for the government — for four years until 2017, stepping down after he was suspended and later sacked by Tinubu’s predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari.

Oke was later pursued by Nigeria’s financial crimes investigations agency in connection with more than $43 million in cash discovered in a flat in the upmarket Ikoyi neighborhood in Lagos, leading to money laundering charges against him and his wife. The agency dropped the case against Oke in June 2023, within the first two weeks of Tinubu taking office as Nigeria’s president.

Tinubu’s two other ambassador-designates are Lateef Kayode — a former head of the country’s DSS secret police agency — and Amin Mohammed Dalhatu, a former ambassador to South Korea.

A spokesperson for Nigeria’s foreign ministry said Tinubu’s move to fill the roles was “a plus and we are happy about that,” despite the ministry’s erstwhile comfort with running foreign missions without ambassadors. The ministry expects the three nominees to be approved by the Senate, after which their posts will be announced, the spokesperson said.

Cheta Nwanze, partner at Lagos-headquartered risk consultancy SBM Intelligence, criticized Tinubu’s choice of diplomatic nominees. He described them as “recycled security godfathers and scandal-tainted figures” who were not well qualified to work with some of Nigeria’s most important partners.

“They’ve bypassed a whole generation of professional career diplomats to reward political insiders,” Nwanze told Semafor. “This isn’t about competence; it’s about patronage and comfort.”