Obi vows to declare war on terrorists if elected president

Former Governor of Anambra State and the Labour Party presidential candidate in the 2023 general elections, Peter Obi, has said he would declare war on terrorists and reject negotiation as a response to insecurity if elected president.

Drawing on his record as Anambra State governor, he argued that decisive action can restore safety across Nigeria.

Obi made the comments in an interview with Arise TV on Monday, during a discussion focused on the country’s worsening security situation, including the recent killing of Brigadier-General Oseni Braimah and several soldiers in a Boko Haram/ISWAP attack in Benisheikh, Borno State.

“No nation will lose about 10 of its senior officers without a response. I will declare war on the terrorists. There is nothing like negotiation,” he said.

Obi said the approach that worked in Anambra during his tenure as governor remained the template he would apply nationally.

He recalled going directly to former President Olusegun Obasanjo to seek authority to act.

“I had to come here and tell President Obasanjo, this is what I want to do and you must allow me to do it,” he said, adding that the results were verifiable.

He named former army commander, Jarrell Enenche, and the late security officials John Haruna and Commissioner Bello as witnesses to the outcomes.

He cited a former Inspector-General of Police as confirmation that the strategy worked.

“The IG, Abubakar, came and said for five years, we have not had issue of major robbery or kidnapping in Anambra State,” he added.

Obi argued, however, that military force alone was insufficient and that the roots of today’s insecurity lay in decades of policy failure.

“What you are seeing today is the cumulative effect of leadership failure over the years, erosion of governance, erosion of values, abandoning the youth, education, social trust, everything,” he said.

He outlined a two-track response: immediate decisive force combined with long-term institutional rebuilding.

“You start building while you are pushing. You bring governance, justice, people are punished if they do the wrong thing,” he said.

When the interviewer noted that he would need to become president to execute such plans, Obi did not dispute the point, pressing instead on the allies he would need and his commitment to front-line leadership.

He named northern political figures, including former Kaduna governor Nasir el-Rufai and former Kano governor Rabiu Kwankwaso, among those he would work with, saying he intended to “be in the north.”

He ended with a direct pledge on leadership style. “I am not going to lead from the back. People will see, they will feel it.”