The General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye, has appealed to President Bola Tinubu to take decisive action against terrorism in Nigeria by giving security chiefs a 90-day deadline to eliminate insurgents or step down.
Speaking during the November Holy Ghost Service of the church, themed “The Eve of Glory,” Adeboye stressed that insecurity had reached a dangerous level and must be tackled with urgency. He made the remarks while responding to recent concerns raised by former U.S. President Donald Trump about the security situation in Nigeria.
“In my usual quiet way, I have related with all the presidents who were around when this trouble started. Whatever I discussed with them privately, I did my best behind the scenes. But you can only advise the Commander-in-Chief, you can’t command him,” Adeboye said.
The cleric urged President Tinubu to act “fast, diplomatically, and wisely,” proposing that Nigeria should appeal to the U.S. government for a 100-day grace period before taking any major action against the country. During this window, he said, security agencies should be mandated to decisively wipe out all terrorist elements and their sponsors.
“If I were asked to make suggestions, I would say to our government: move fast, move diplomatically, move wisely. Find a way to convince the President of America to delay his actions for about 100 days. Then come home and tell our security chiefs to get rid of these terrorists within 90 days or resign,” he stated.
Adeboye recalled offering similar advice to former President Muhammadu Buhari, noting that although the directive was initially implemented, the momentum was lost before lasting results were achieved.
“There was a president — unfortunately, he’s dead now — Buhari, who issued such an order. He is not here to tell you who gave him that advice. He acted on it but didn’t follow through. Three months passed and the work was not done. I asked him why he didn’t proceed, but I won’t tell you the details,” Adeboye added.
The revered cleric emphasised that beyond eliminating terrorists, the government must also go after their financiers, regardless of their power or connections.
“When giving orders to the service chiefs, the President should make it clear that they must not only eliminate the terrorists but also their sponsors, no matter how powerful they are,” he advised.
Adeboye cautioned that Nigeria should not rely on foreign nations in the event of external intervention, warning that “if America attacks us, China, Russia, and other world powers will condemn it strongly, but that’s all they’ll do. Britain won’t come to help us. No foreign power will.”
He urged the Federal Government to treat the lives of Nigerians as sacred and move beyond rhetoric. “This is not the time for jokes, grammar, or arguments. It’s not about Christians or Muslims — innocent people are dying,” he warned.
Meanwhile, human rights lawyer and activist, Dele Farotimi, has faulted the Nigerian government’s continued description of mass killings in some parts of the country as “farmer-herder clashes,” describing the situation as outright genocide.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Hard Copy programme, Farotimi lambasted the government for downplaying the severity of the violence despite global outrage.
“You are calling genocide farmers-herders clash — what nonsense,” he said. “How can a farmer who owns nothing be clashing with somebody carrying a Kalashnikov and M-16 rifles? And they are calling it a farmers-herders clash. You even find government persons peddling that idiocy.”
Farotimi accused authorities of deliberately concealing the scale of the atrocities while refusing to confront the truth about the killings, which he said have become systematic and widespread.
Both Adeboye and Farotimi’s comments reflect growing frustration among Nigerians and the international community over the Federal Government’s perceived slow response to the worsening insecurity in the country.
