Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has called on the Federal Government to stop negotiating with terrorists and instead seek international assistance to curb the escalating wave of violent attacks across the country.

Obasanjo made the call on Friday during the Plateau State Unity Christmas Carol and Praise Festival held in Jos. He warned that the continued killings and abductions across Nigeria show that the nation’s security architecture is failing, adding that citizens are justified in seeking foreign intervention when their government cannot guarantee their safety.

“We Nigerians are being killed, and our government seems to be incapable of protecting us,” he said. “If our government cannot do it, we have the right to call on the international community to do for us what our government cannot do for us.”

His remarks come amid renewed nationwide violence. In Niger State, bandits this week invaded Palaita community in Shiroro Local Government Area and abducted 24 farmers, including pregnant women, from a rice field. Similar incidents were reported in Kano and Kwara, where about 20 persons were kidnapped between Monday night and Tuesday morning.

The latest attacks follow the abduction of 26 students from Government Girls Secondary School, Maga, in Danko-Wasagu Local Government Area of Kebbi State on November 17. In Kwara, 38 worshippers kidnapped from Christ Apostolic Church, Oke-Isegun, Eruku, on November 18 regained freedom only after the Federal Government negotiated with their abductors—an approach Obasanjo insisted must end.

On Tuesday, another group of 10 people, including a pregnant woman, nursing mothers, and children, were seized in Isapa, a community near Eruku.

The former president questioned the rationale behind negotiating with terrorists despite advancements in surveillance and combat technology.

“Before I left office, we could identify and locate anyone who committed a crime anywhere in Nigeria, but we lacked the capacity to immediately apprehend them,” he said. “Now we have the technology. With drones, we can take them out. Why are we not doing that? Why are we negotiating?”

Obasanjo argued that with modern equipment and enhanced intelligence-gathering capabilities, Nigeria has no excuse for allowing criminal groups to operate freely.

His comments have further intensified debate over the Federal Government’s security strategy as communities across the North continue to suffer repeated attacks with little sign of relief.