RIBADU’S DIPLOMATIC EXPLOITSRIBADURIBADU’S DIPLOMATIC EXPLOITS

Mohammed Dahiru contends that Ribadu’s visit to Washington has changed the conversation on security

Recently, a global spike in the narrative surrounding Nigeria’s complex security situation took a dangerous label that aroused outrage, concern, and curiosity on the one hand and downplayed the plight of other victims of insecurity on the other. This created a situation that enabled a dangerously divisive rhetoric that further polarised the country’s diverse population rather than appease actual contentions about the matter.

Following US President Donald Trump’s designation of Nigeria as a country of particular concern (CPC) on 31st October 2025 under the International Religious Freedom Act and the subsequent threat to invade the country and rescue its Christian population from “genocide”, it was clear that POTUS was not under first-hand advisement from intelligence and security circles of the both countries concerned, but under the influence of a well-oiled propaganda machinery that only served to further heighten tension and attract global attention on a single side narrative.

This was not just the problem, the major problem of such ill-informed but influential rhetoric is the risk of an escalation that will derank our global standing in the comity of nations and worse still, plunge us into another round of avoidable civil war or democratic disruption amidst growing cases of military coups in the region – thanks to an age where disinformation can easily be deployed as a lethal weapon of war.

The situation created a National Security threat that required more than just diplomatic phone calls, press releases or media briefings to quell in an already toxically polarised media ecosystem and Nigeria’s National Security adviser (NSA), Mallan Nuhu Ribadu more than understood the brief.

This is why the recent official visit of the NSA to Washington, D.C., can best be described as a strategic recalibration of Nigeria’s diplomatic engagement towards erasing the stereotype. Amidst the souring relations and diplomatic tension, Ribadu took the gauntlet and confronted the key US officials advancing the dangerous narrative. But Ribadu is not new to confronting dangers head-on. As a university student, a story was told of how Ribadu confronted and disarmed an armed robber!

Already, the country’s security has, over the years, been overwhelmed by mounting threats such as terrorism, banditry, sabotage, transnational crime, and an increasingly complex geopolitical terrain. In navigating these challenges, successive administrations have sought alliances that go beyond the rhetoric of diplomacy.

Today, the stakes are even far higher than at any point in the Fourth Republic. Nigeria’s internal instability is tied to external networks, foreign technologies, cross-border intelligence gaps, and resource limitations. Ribadu, like his predecessors, understands this terrain, but unlike many before him, he is stepping into the arena by building diplomatic bridges. It is within this reality that Ribadu’s Washington meetings stand out for its substance.

During his visit, NSA Ribadu met with senior U.S. officials across intelligence, defense, and diplomatic institutions proposing technical, strategic, forward-looking and solutions-driven commitment.

From the U.S. National Security Council to the Departments of State and Defense, Ribadu pushed Nigeria’s case, firmly advocating for advanced intelligence-sharing, expanded counterterrorism cooperation, support for technology-driven surveillance, and enhanced training and joint operations capacities.

For years, Nigeria’s partners offered sympathy while avoiding commitments but this time, the tone shifted substantially. The United States pledged renewed and practical support to help Nigeria tackle insecurity, signalling readiness to deploy resources, expertise, and intelligence assets at a scale unseen since the early days of the Boko Haram war.

But the most consequential outcome of the visit was the formal establishment of the U.S.–Nigeria Security Working Group (US-NSWG), a structured, bilateral mechanism that gives Nigeria direct access to Washington’s counterterrorism and intelligence ecosystem. In other words, Nigeria now has a seat at the table where decisions affecting the Sahel, the Gulf of Guinea, and West African stability are shaped.

Ribadu’s choice by President Bola Tinubu to lead the Federal Government’s team in this all-important US-NSWG lies in both his legacy and his competence.

Ribadu’s career spanning police force, anti-corruption leadership, and now national security coordination positions him as one of the few Nigerian public officials whose credibility resonates both at home and with foreign partners. His professional ethos has long been defined by an unyielding stance against crime networks, financial or otherwise.

Like the EFCC era once showed, confronting vested interests is rarely smooth and Ribadu himself has tasted the bitterness of political pushback, institutional jealousy, and international intrigue. But it is precisely this combination of experience and resilience that makes him suited to midwife Nigeria’s engagement with the United States at such a critical juncture.

It is more so because today’s global security climate is unforgiving. The Sahel is tilting towards new geopolitical poles; military juntas are rewiring alliances; Russia, China, and the EU are expanding influence footprints; while extremist groups are mutating with alarming sophistication.

Nigeria cannot afford to be a passive observer, that is why beyond setting the record straight about Nigeria’s security challenge on the global stage, Ribadu’s visit to the United States demonstrates that Abuja is not waiting for instability to overwhelm it before seeking support.

Critics may argue that foreign support has not always yielded the expected results. True. But this is not the usual donor-recipient dynamic. The US-NSWG is a co-created framework anchored on mutual interest where Nigeria wants stability and the U.S. wants regional balance in West Africa, especially amid rising authoritarian shifts and global rivalries.

Thus, Ribadu’s visit strengthens Nigeria’s relevance in international security calculations at a time when silence or detachment would be costly.

If the US-NSWG is effectively executed, several outcomes are likely to emerge from this new partnership including better intelligence coordination, reducing the longstanding lag that often costs lives during attacks, training and logistical upgrades for Nigerian security agencies, improved technology deployment (including surveillance drones, advanced communication systems, and analytical tools), joint operational planning against terrorism, banditry, and piracy, and more effective border management, especially against arms proliferation.

It will be intellectually dishonest for well-meaning Nigerians to dismiss Ribadu’s Washington visit because give or take, for the first time in a very long while, something has shifted and Ribadu’s example is a classic case of Nigeria redefining how it engages global power structures on security matters.

As the real test lies in implementation, coordination, and political will, I have no doubt that the U.S.–Nigeria Security Working Group could become one of the most consequential bilateral frameworks of the decade.

Meanwhile, it is unmistakably clear that Nigeria, using both domestic reform and international cooperation, has opened a door that had long remained stuck. Ribadu’s Washington visit and its outcome highlights that strategic statement boldly.

As the nation waits for the next steps, one thing is certain: this visit has changed the security conversation. And if Nigeria faithfully follows through, history may look back on this moment not as a diplomatic detour, but as a turning point.

Dahiru is the Programme Manager of the Penlight Centre for Investigative Journalism