The Allied Peoples Movement (APM) has challenged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Minister of Defence, Gen. Christopher Musa (retd.), and other senior government officials to travel by road without armed security escorts if the administration’s claim of improved security reflects the reality across Nigeria.
The opposition party made the challenge on Saturday in Abuja while reacting to recent comments by Musa that the government had “defeated terrorists” and that kidnapping had increasingly become a social problem rather than a broader security threat.
The APM, through its National Publicity Secretary, Abubakar Yusuf, accused the Federal Government of downplaying the country’s security challenges and being disconnected from the experiences of Nigerians facing killings, abductions, displacement and ransom demands. 
“If the security situation has truly improved as the administration claims, the APM challenges the President, the Minister of Defence and other senior officials of the Tinubu Presidency to travel by road without armed security details as other Nigerians must do,” the party said.
Musa had, during a television interview earlier in the week, said the government had made significant progress in its campaign against terrorism, arguing that attacks by Boko Haram, ISWAP and other terrorist groups were no longer as frequent.
“Frankly speaking, we have defeated terrorists because now, like I said, the attacks are not as rampant and it is now kidnapping,” the minister said.
He also described kidnapping as a separate form of criminality, citing instances in which family members allegedly abducted one another.
“Like I said, kidnapping is a social ill where you now see wives kidnapping husbands and husbands kidnapping children,” Musa said.
The minister maintained that the security situation had improved, saying the government’s strategy had forced criminal groups down the security spectrum from terrorism and insurgency towards abductions and kidnapping for ransom.
“I can tell you there is improved security. Maybe if you noticed, you don’t hear so much of Boko Haram attacks, ISWAP attacks and all these things here and there, maybe one-off,” he said.
According to Musa, the government’s military and security operations had disrupted the activities of terrorist groups.
“Now, I say, the trajectory is this: from criminality to kidnapping to terrorism, insurgency; once you are able to hit them, it goes back downwards.
“So, we are now back into the stage of abductions and kidnappings because that is the easiest way for them to try and raise money,” he added.
The APM, however, rejected the minister’s assessment, describing it as a “dangerous distortion of reality.”
Yusuf cited the Global Terrorism Index 2026, which he said ranked Nigeria fourth among the world’s most terrorism-affected countries, compared with sixth position in the previous edition.
He argued that the ranking, coupled with continuing reports of abductions and attacks, contradicted the government’s claim of significant improvement in national security.
“It is deeply disappointing that a minister of the Federal Republic could appear on national television to make such claims at a time when millions of innocent Nigerians are being killed, kidnapped, displaced and terrorised in various parts of the country,” Yusuf said.
The APM spokesman also accused the government of being insensitive to families affected by killings, rape, maiming, ransom-driven abductions and prolonged captivity.
He cited the reported abduction of hundreds of residents from communities in Niger State as an example of the continuing security challenges confronting Nigerians.
“Only last week, 600 Nigerians, mostly women, children and the elderly, were abducted from Dekera, Gidan-Zana and Sabon Gida villages in Niger State and are still languishing in captivity,” Yusuf said.
The party also referenced figures attributed to SBM Intelligence, claiming t
