Laolu Akande to Tinubu: Use America’s help to fight terrorists and tap Gambari, Anyaoku, Akinyemi to reset Nigeria in Comity of Nations

Former presidential aide and public affairs analyst, Laolu Akande, has urged President Bola Tinubu to immediately appoint Nigerian ambassadors across the world to help correct what he described as the “undesirable slant and distortion of the Nigerian narrative” in global discourse, particularly in the United States. Speaking on his weekly My Take segment on Inside […]

Former presidential aide and public affairs analyst, Laolu Akande, has urged President Bola Tinubu to immediately appoint Nigerian ambassadors across the world to help correct what he described as the “undesirable slant and distortion of the Nigerian narrative” in global discourse, particularly in the United States.

Speaking on his weekly My Take segment on Inside Sources with Laolu Akande on Sunday, the veteran journalist expressed deep concern over what he termed the administration’s “deeply dysfunctional” handling of Nigeria’s diplomatic representation and foreign policy coordination.

According to Akande, the absence of ambassadors in key global capitals for two consecutive years has weakened Nigeria’s voice and allowed damaging narratives about the country to fester unchecked.

“When the renewed global campaign regarding the killings in Nigeria was gaining momentum in the U.S. media and in American government circles, Nigeria had no ambassador — not one, not in Washington, D.C., not in New York,” Akande said.
“So all of the brewing happened at a time where, for the first time in Nigeria’s history, we didn’t have ambassadors for two straight years. We still don’t. No Nigerian ambassador anywhere on God’s green earth, none.”

Akande linked this diplomatic vacuum to the resurgence of negative global attention on Nigeria’s insecurity and governance challenges. He warned that such complacency from the presidency and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reflects poor coordination and missed opportunities to defend the nation’s reputation.

“My worry is that such a deeply dysfunctional situation sat pretty well with our president and sat pretty well with his two foreign affairs ministers for this long. That’s my worry,” he stated.

The former aide also faulted President Tinubu’s repeated absence from the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), describing it as a costly mistake that deprived Nigeria of a major global platform to clarify and defend its domestic realities.

“The president himself, in the same time, refused to personally attend the United Nations General Assembly where his presence and the platform that the U.N. offered would have been sufficed to knock down those undesirable slant and distortion of the Nigerian narrative,” Akande lamented.
“He ignored the U.N. for two years. This was where he could have explained and pushed back on those brewing antagonisms against Nigeria.”

Akande said while President Tinubu has the traits of a visionary leader, lack of proper coordination in his administration could render his efforts ineffective.

“At times, I worry, is it that the president lacks good advisors or is it that the president simply does not listen?” he asked.
“With poor coordination, the best visionary leader may end up in the same category of clueless leaders in the annals of history. If we have a visionary president like I believe President Tinubu is, if there is no coordination, it will be no use.”

Addressing the recent remarks by former U.S. President Donald Trump on insecurity in Nigeria, Akande said while he does not believe the U.S. would invade Nigeria, the comments should serve as a wake-up call for the Tinubu administration to act decisively against insecurity and impunity.

“I certainly don’t support an invasion of our country, but I’m persuaded that the U.S. President, Mr. Donald Trump, would not invade Nigeria. Americans are fatigued for that,” he said.
“He would rather support our governments in these unending insecurity and killings, gales of needless deaths among our people.”

Akande commended Tinubu’s recent engagements with religious and traditional leaders across the country as a positive step toward restoring national security.

“I am told that the president is now meeting traditional and religious leaders in the country with the intent of rallying us together to do the needful. He has met the Sultan of Sokoto and the Archbishop of Abuja Catholic Diocese, and the ground is being prepared for some very important, drastic decisions. That is a good one,” Akande noted.

He, however, urged the president to issue firm directives to the nation’s security chiefs to act decisively against terrorists and their financiers.

“Let the president make it abundantly clear to the new military service chiefs and others like the IGP and the DG DSS that changes are necessary if they are going to keep their jobs,” he said.
“The president must tell us that the days of appeasement of terrorists and bandits and this band of extremists are over and gone.”

Citing Pastor E.A. Adeboye’s recent remarks to the president, Akande reinforced the need to target the sponsors of insecurity, regardless of their influence.

“When giving orders to the service chiefs, this time around, we should make it clear to them that they are not only to eliminate the terrorists, they should eliminate their sponsors, no matter how influential they may be,” he quoted Pastor Adeboye as saying.

Akande also advised President Tinubu to seek the counsel of respected diplomatic figures to help recalibrate Nigeria’s foreign policy and global image.

“You should engage successful diplomatic icons, such as Professor Ibrahim Gambari, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, and others, to help you design a roadmap that can recalibrate Nigeria’s place in the world,” Akande suggested.

He concluded with a passionate appeal for Nigeria to take control of its own narrative and use global attention as an opportunity for reform.

“Let us use this American help for our own good. It is about our people that have been killed, that have been murdered, that have been displaced,” he said.
“The perspective of the victims must be a compelling narrative in us as a people, trying to understand what the Trump intervention means.”