Tinubu Acting Out of Fear, Not Insecurity – Mahdi Shehu Criticises Sack of Service Chiefs

Public affairs analyst Mahdi Shehu has accused President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of acting out of fear and self-preservation rather than concern for national security in his recent decision to reshuffle Nigeria’s service chiefs.

In a post shared on his official X handle on Saturday, Shehu claimed that Tinubu’s action was triggered by reports of a possible coup rather than the country’s worsening insecurity. He argued that the President’s response was driven by “selfish political interest and survival instincts.”

Citing the Bible to support his stance, Shehu quoted James 3:16: *“For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.”* He said the verse captures what he described as Tinubu’s greed and self-centered approach to governance.

“The scriptural references to man’s selfishness are well narrated and documented with visible confirmation by man himself,” Shehu wrote, adding that Tinubu’s “insatiable economic desires” reflect this tendency.

The analyst criticised the President for ignoring months of insecurity across the country, listing incidents of mass killings in Katsina, Zamfara, Sokoto, Niger, Yobe, and Borno states, as well as in Benue, Taraba, Kogi, and Nasarawa.

According to Shehu, these persistent tragedies “did not prick Tinubu’s conscience to rejig his security architecture.” He argued that the President only took decisive action after sensing a threat to his government. “But the moment his brand of democracy came under what was officially denied yet unofficially confirmed as a coup, he acted swiftly and panicky,” he stated.

Shehu described the move as “a coup shrouded in darkness” and suggested that Tinubu’s reaction was purely about safeguarding his political survival rather than protecting citizens.

He also faulted the President’s handling of the economy, accusing him of retaining “a wizardly economic team” despite rising poverty and hardship. “With 139 million Nigerians facing abject poverty and hunger, and other gory economic failures, Tinubu is yet to sack his economic team,” he said.

Shehu concluded that Tinubu’s actions “confirm man’s selfish nature, even in the face of glaring failures, until such a time when he is finally subsumed by the earth.”

President Tinubu on Friday announced a major shake-up in the nation’s security leadership, sacking several service chiefs and appointing new ones. According to a statement from his media aide, Sunday Dare, Olufemi Oluyede was named the new Chief of Defence Staff, replacing General Christopher Musa.