Olubadan delivers Verdict on Tinubu’s Insecurity battle after Abuja visit

By Kazeem Ugbodaga

The Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Rashidi Ladoja, has expressed confidence in President Bola Tinubu’s ongoing efforts to tackle insecurity, saying the challenge, though severe, is not beyond the capacity of the Federal Government to resolve.

Ladoja spoke with journalists in Abuja on Friday after a visit to the President, during which national security and economic concerns were discussed.

He acknowledged that insecurity remains Nigeria’s most urgent problem, particularly as it continues to affect agriculture and daily economic activities across the country.

According to the traditional ruler, fear has increasingly kept farmers away from their farmlands and disrupted livelihoods, with the threat now spreading beyond the North to the South.

“The major problem that we really have now is the problem of insecurity. Farmers find it difficult to go to their farms. It is already coming to the South also,” he said.

Despite the growing concern, Ladoja said he believes President Tinubu is actively confronting the situation, stressing that the problem is difficult but not insurmountable.

“I don’t think it is insurmountable; we believe that the President is tackling it currently,” he stated.

The Olubadan pointed to Tinubu’s record as former governor of Lagos State as evidence of his capacity to manage complex security and governance challenges.

“If you know from where he is coming, you will know that he knows what he is doing. He was able to get Lagos from where it was to where he left it,” Ladoja said.

He noted that while Nigeria presents a more complicated governance landscape than any single state due to its diversity and competing interests, ongoing reforms are beginning to strengthen institutional capacity, particularly at the subnational level.

“The states have more money than we had when we were governors. They are able to meet their commitments more than what we had when we were governors,” he said.

Ladoja expressed optimism that Tinubu’s economic and security reforms would stabilise the country over time, adding that the President’s leadership could leave Nigeria in a stronger position by the end of his tenure.

“We hope that when he is leaving in 2031, he will have put Nigeria where all of us would be proud of,” he said.