Atiku’s remarks on Jilli airstrike misleading, reckless — Presidency

Special Adviser to the President on Media and Communications, Sunday Dare, in a reaction posted on his verified X handle, @SundayDareSD, said it was “disappointing and telling” that Atiku chose to politicise a military operation aimed at dismantling terrorist strongholds.

Dare was responding to Atiku’s criticism of the weekend airstrikes carried out by the Nigerian Air Force, which the former vice president had alleged targeted civilians.

According to the presidential aide, the strikes were “targeted, intelligence-led airstrikes on insurgent positions within and around the Jilli axis,” stressing that the area, though still referred to as a market, had long ceased to function as a legitimate civilian trading hub.

He explained that Jilli Market had, over time, been overtaken and repurposed by terrorist groups, including Boko Haram terrorists and ISWAP fighters, as a logistics and supply base for their operations.

“Let us be clear: while the location may still be referred to as ‘Jilli Market,’ it has not functioned as a legitimate civilian marketplace in any meaningful sense.

“By multiple credible accounts, it has evolved into an operational node within the insurgency’s supply chain, facilitating movement, coordination, and sustenance of violent actors”, Dare said.

The presidential spokesman warned that Atiku’s framing of the operation as an attack on civilians risks distorting public understanding and undermining the morale of troops engaged in counter-insurgency operations.

“For Atiku Abubakar to ignore this context and frame a legitimate military action as an attack on civilians is not only misleading, it is reckless,” he stated.

Dare further accused the former vice president of inconsistency, noting that while he had repeatedly criticised the government for failing to curb insecurity, he was quick to condemn decisive military action when taken.

“What remains difficult to reconcile is the contradiction. He consistently criticizes the government for failing to curb insecurity, yet when decisive, intelligence-driven action is taken, he is quick to condemn it. That is not principled opposition; it is opportunism,” he added.

The presidential aide maintained that Nigeria requires seriousness in addressing security challenges, urging public figures to avoid what he described as “selective outrage” capable of weakening national resolve in the fight against terrorism.