The Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, has accused sections of the Nigerian media of creating a false impression that the country is overwhelmed by insecurity, insisting that security challenges, though real, do not mean the nation is under siege.
Onanuga, who spoke in an interview on Arise Television on Tuesday, said media reports often portray insecurity as if it has engulfed every part of Nigeria.
“The problem is that the media in Nigeria they’re even creating the problem. The way they’re reporting security is as if the entire country is consumed,” he said.
He argued that many Nigerians still travel safely across different parts of the country and cited examples of people undertaking long road trips without incident.
“Don’t let people threaten you that the entire country is under siege. It’s not. There are security breaches. There are major security breaches,” he stated.
According to him, while incidents of kidnapping and attacks remain a concern, many of them occur at night despite longstanding warnings from security agencies against night travel.
“Any time I read about either a kidnapping or an attack somewhere, sometimes I look at the time. I say, wow, it happened 8 p.m., it happened 9 p.m., sometimes 1 a.m. A long time ago, the police told people to stop travelling at night,” Onanuga said.
The presidential aide also recounted a conversation with a government official who reportedly travelled a long distance by road, saying such experiences contradict claims that movement across the country has become impossible.
Olamilekan Adigun is a graduate of Mass Communication with years of experience in journalism embedded in uncovering human interest stories. He also prioritises accuracy and factual reportage of issues.
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