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Abuja – Nigeria’s immediate-past Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Gwabin Musa, has delivered a blunt and unequivocal message to the nation: no foreign power, no matter how strong, can resolve the country’s protracted security crises. The solution, he insisted, lies squarely in the hands of Nigerians themselves.
The retired four-star general made the remarks on Sunday, November 23, 2025, while fielding questions at a high-profile public event in the Federal Capital Territory. The session turned particularly pointed when a member of the audience asked General Musa to react to recent statements attributed to United States President Donald Trump threatening possible American military intervention in Nigeria if the security situation continued to deteriorate.
General Musa, who stepped down as CDS only weeks ago after an eventful tenure marked by intensified operations against insurgency, banditry, and separatist agitation, did not mince words.
“Nobody will save our country other than ourselves,” he declared, his voice carrying the authority of a man who has commanded troops in the theatres of Maiduguri, Zamfara, and the creeks of the Niger Delta. “Foreigners cannot solve our problems for us. We know our terrain, we know our people, we know the issues. We must take ownership and do it ourselves—and I am convinced that we can.”
The statement drew prolonged applause from the audience, which comprised serving and retired military officers, diplomats, civil-society leaders, and journalists. Yet it also underscored a deeper, long-running debate within Nigeria’s security establishment and political class: to what extent should Africa’s most populous nation continue to lean on external technical assistance, training programmes, and intelligence-sharing arrangements, and when does such reliance begin to erode sovereignty and self-confidence?
General Musa’s position aligns with a growing body of opinion among senior Nigerian officers who argue that decades of foreign military training, equipment donations, and even direct counter-terrorism support have yielded only partial successes. While partnerships with the United States, United Kingdom, France, and lately China and Turkey have modernised certain aspects of the Nigerian military, the asymmetric threats—Boko Haram and its ISWAP splinter in the North-East, heavily armed bandit groups in the North-West, farmer-herder clashes across the Middle Belt, and secessionist tensions in the South-East—have proved stubbornly resilient.
The immediate trigger for the question posed to General Musa appears to be a widely circulated November 2025 interview in which President Trump, during his second term, reportedly warned that the United States could no longer “watch from the sidelines” as instability in West Africa threatened global energy supplies and migration routes. Trump was quoted as saying that if Nigeria’s government could not protect its citizens and secure its borders, Washington would “consider all options, including direct action.” Although the White House later clarified that no deployment was currently planned, the statement reignited old anxieties in Abuja about external interference.
General Musa used the occasion to remind Nigerians that foreign intervention, even when well-intentioned, often comes with its own strategic baggage. “When others fight your battles,” he cautioned, “they fight them on their own terms and for their own interests. We cannot subcontract our sovereignty.”
He acknowledged the value of international cooperation—citing ongoing training programmes with the U.S. Africa Command, British military advisory teams, and intelligence fusion cells—but insisted these must remain enablers rather than substitutes for Nigerian initiative.
The former CDS also touched on domestic factors that have hampered progress: corruption in defence procurement, poor civil-military coordination, inadequate funding for troops’ welfare, and the politicisation of security appointments. “We have the manpower, we have the knowledge, we have the courage,” he said. “What we sometimes lack is the political will and the unity of purpose.”
Significantly, General Musa called for a “whole-of-society” approach that goes beyond military kinetic operations. He advocated massive investment in intelligence gathering at the community level, reform of the police to handle internal security, economic empowerment programmes in restive regions, and a national conversation on justice and inclusion. “Soldiers can clear and hold territory,” he noted, “but only civilians can build the peace that lasts.”
His comments have already elicited reactions across the country. Several northern governors welcomed the emphasis on local ownership, while some southern commentators expressed scepticism, pointing to the federal government’s repeated appeals for more foreign assistance. On social media, the hashtag #WeMustDoItOurselves began trending within hours of his remarks.
As Nigeria approaches another election cycle and faces the prospect of new administrations in several key states, General Musa’s intervention serves as both a challenge and a rallying cry. The man who once coordinated the armed forces at their most intense period of multi-theatre operations has made it clear: the era of waiting for outsiders to rescue Nigeria must end. The responsibility—and the capacity—to restore peace, he insists, resides within.
Whether the political class and citizenry will heed the retired general’s call remains one of the most crucial questions facing the nation as it navigates yet another chapter in its long struggle for lasting security.
