Soldiers Arrest Foreign Nationals Linked To Insecurity In Nigeria — Presidency

The Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Media and Public Communications, Daniel Bwala, has disclosed that Nigerian troops have arrested foreign nationals suspected of involvement in insecurity in parts of the country.

Bwala made the disclosure during The Link Up Podcast, a panel discussion hosted by EchoRoom and published on Friday.

According to him, some foreign governments have interfered in Nigeria’s internal affairs due to security and economic interests, including the country’s oil resources and policy decisions taken by the Federal Government.

Recalling protests in parts of northern Nigeria where Russian flags were displayed, Bwala said the demonstrations followed a major decision taken by the Federal Government.

“If you remember, there was a decision the Federal Government of Nigeria made at that time, and immediately we started seeing people in Nigeria lifting Russian flags,” he said.

“Our soldiers have arrested foreign nationals in the middle of the country.”

Bwala explained that the military deliberately withheld the identities and nationalities of those arrested to avoid jeopardising ongoing diplomatic engagements with their countries.

“For security reasons, the military refused to disclose their nationality, but the government of Nigeria related with those nationalities and countries.

“If you catch somebody like that, you keep them until that country has something also in it, so you do prisoner exchange,” he said.

He added that countries considered friendly were privately engaged and encouraged to take corrective action instead of being publicly named, noting that intelligence operations are often handled under the principle of plausible deniability.

Responding to a question on whether the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was involved in funding terrorism in Nigeria, Bwala said he had no evidence to support such a claim.

However, he recalled that a member of the United States Congress, Scott Perry, had raised similar concerns during a congressional hearing involving a CIA director.

“I’m not saying he’s right or he’s wrong, but an event like that has occurred, and as a country we cannot hear that and say you are a liar,” he said.

Speaking on the activities of Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), Bwala said the insurgent groups had expanded from the North-East into the North-West and were attempting to spread into the North-Central.

He said the Federal Government was working to stop the insurgency from extending to southern Nigeria.

Bwala also dismissed allegations that the Nigerian military deliberately shields terrorists during operations, describing such claims as speculative.

He, however, acknowledged that security agencies could sometimes be infiltrated by informants, citing the arrest of a senior police officer alongside Chinese nationals and the case of American whistleblower Edward Snowden as examples that no institution is completely immune to infiltration.

The presidential aide further criticised what he described as poor coordination between the Nigerian Army and the Nigerian Air Force during the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari.

According to him, those operational lapses have been addressed under President Tinubu’s administration.

Bwala also gave a positive assessment of the Tinubu administration’s performance, pointing to improvements in Nigeria’s foreign reserves and government revenue.

He added that Nigerians would ultimately determine whether the President deserves a second term in office.