After Trump’s Heat on Tinubu: 10 Key Shifts in Nigeria’s Security Strategy & Diplomacy

As United States President Donald Trump turned the heat on President Bola Tinubu, Nigeria has been forced into a period of intense scrutiny and rapid recalibration both at home and on the global stage.

Over the past two months, the administration of President Tinubu has faced what many considered its biggest test since assuming office in 2023. 

This comes as Trump mounted pressure on the Tinubu-led government, redesignating Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern over Christian genocide claims.

The U.S President also went further to accuse some Nigerian government officials of allegedly supporting religious persecution in the country. 

Since Trump’s heat on Tinubu, several measures, policies, appointments have been made. 

Trump’s sharp criticism of Tinubu’s government over the current security woes in the country, according to foreign media reports, was said to have echoed across Washington policy circles. It beamed global searchlight on Nigeria and pushed Abuja to rethink elements of its security posture, diplomatic engagement, and broader strategic priorities.

Pan-Atlantic Kompass, in this report, highlights some of the noticeable shifts and actionable steps since Nigeria headlined the international news following its redesignation as a country of particular concern by the U.S. 

Below are 10 shifts in Nigeria’s security strategy and diplomacy after Trump’s heat on Tinubu;

Nominations of Career and Non-career Ambassadors 

For two years Nigeria had no ambassador across the globe. This is because, Tinubu, shortly after assuming office in 2023 recalled all Nigerian ambassadors appointed during the tenure of late former President Muhammadu Buhari.  

Since then, there has been a clamour for Tinubu to replace the ambassadors to give Nigeria good representation. All the clamour fell on deaf ears until recently, when Tinubu unveiled his nominations for ambassadors.

As of press time, Tinubu has sent a list of 68 nominees to the Senate for screening and confirmation. 

Three of them — Kayode Are, Aminu Dalhatu, and Ayodele Oke — have already been screened by the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs

Many diplomacy experts believed that recent nominations were as a result of Trump’s heat on Tinubu.

​Declaration of National Security Emergency

Tinubu on Wednesday, November 26, 2025, declared a nationwide security emergency.

The President also ordered additional recruitment into the armed forces in a bid to tackle insecurity in the country.

Tinubu said: “Today, in view of the emerging security situation, I have decided to declare a nationwide security emergency and order additional recruitment into the Armed Forces.

“By this declaration, the police and the army are authorised to recruit more personnel. The police will recruit an additional 20,000 officers, bringing the total to 50,000.

“Although I had previously approved the nationwide upgrade of police training facilities, the police authorities are, by this statement, authorised to use various National Youth Service Corps camps as training depots.

“The officers being withdrawn from VIP guard duties should undergo crash training to debrief them and deliver more efficient police services when deployed to security-challenged areas of the country.”

These policies marked a shift from previous actions where security challenges were often treated as severe, but regionally isolated, handled primarily through reactive military deployments and ad-hoc task forces rather than a centralized, national emergency framework.

Appointment of Gen Musa as Minister of Defence 

On Thursday, December 4, 2025, Tinubu swore in former Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, as the new Minister of Defence. 

The swearing-in ceremony came after Tinubu announced his nomination in a letter addressed to the Senate. Musa’s appointment has received a lot of commendations from Nigerians, many of whom believe that the retired military officer is capable of solving the country’s security challenges.

While Musa’s appointment was commended by many Nigerians, there are question marks over the resignation of Mohammed Badaru Abubakar as Minister of Defence. 

There have been media reports that Badaru resigned over Trump’s heat on Tinubu.

However, the former Minister has spoken out against the claims, saying it was intended to damage his reputation, strain his relationship with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and create needless controversy around national security matters.

Badaru stressed that the genuine reasons for his resignation were formally conveyed to the President and publicly reported through credible media platforms, warning that any alternative narrative was “a complete falsehood engineered by mischief makers.” However, many Nigerians still believe perhaps he got the big stick to pave the way for a more tactical professional and a retired battle-tested General.

End of the ‘Bow and Go’ for Security Nominees

During the screening of Musa, there was a mild drama after Senator Sani Musa, the lawmaker representing the Niger East Senatorial district of Niger at the Senate, proposed that the nominee be allowed to “take a bow and go”.

The proposal was immediately rejected by some Senators, leading to mild drama.

Stepping in, President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio called for calm while reminding lawmakers that the screening was a serious exercise that required public interrogation.

He said Nigerians expected to hear from the nominee directly, given the scale of the country’s security challenges.

“Our constituents would like to hear from him. We are asking him questions because our constituents would like to ask him questions too,” Akpabio said.

“This is not a period we should say bow and go. Even Donald Trump is on our neck.

“With over 200 children in the bush being tortured, give the man an opportunity to give Nigerians hope. It is not like we don’t like him.”

This is a shift from the old actions. Before now, ministerial nominees, especially retired Service Chiefs, were often given swift confirmation out of respect for their rank or to avoid discussing sensitive national security matters in public. But Nigerians view this differently as they often rebuke the National Assembly over the culture of ‘bow and go’.

Legislative Reclassification of Banditry and Kidnapping

On Wednesday, December 3, 2025, the Senate proposed stiff penalties for kidnappings and other forms of violence.

The measures include imposition of the death penalty on convicted kidnappers, financiers, and informants; a ban on ransom payment, stoppage of negotiation with terrorists, and classification of kidnapping as terrorism.

The Senate took the hardline stance against the worsening wave of kidnapping after the debate on a bill seeking to amend the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.

The purpose of the amendment is to designate kidnapping, hostage-taking, and related offences as acts of terrorism.

The amendment, sponsored by Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, also seeks to empower security agencies with expanded operational and intelligence tools to dismantle kidnapping networks nationwide.

This development also comes amid Trump’s heat on Tinubu and is a departure from past actions that saw kidnapping and banditry treated as purely criminal, acts, which complicated the security response by limiting the use of the full military apparatus and the scope of counter-terrorism laws.

​House of Representatives Demands Names of Terrorist Financiers

Also, on Wednesday, the House of Representatives called on the government of Tinubu to name sponsors of terrorism and banditry to tackle the spate of insecurity across the country.

The legislators maintained that identifying and punishing the Nigerian terrorism sponsors is the crucial step toward dismantling their networks and restoring peace.

Pan-Atlantic Kompass reports that the resolution to name sponsors of terrorism and banditry is part of the House Resolutions on National Security Reform and Enhancement’s three-day special plenary on security. 

This comes as financial intelligence and the identities of high-profile terrorist sponsors were often guarded and siloed within intelligence agencies, with a reluctance to publicly name individuals.

​Deployment of DSS Assets for Forest Operations

Tinubu has also directed the Department of State Services (DSS) to deploy trained forest guards to flush out terrorists from Nigeria’s forests, and ordered the recruitment of more personnel to strengthen these operations. 

The new security directive authorised the immediate deployment and expansion of DSS “forest guards” for intelligence-driven operations in rural and forested bandit havens.

“My fellow Nigerians, this is a national emergency, and we are responding by deploying more boots on the ground, especially in security-challenged areas. The times require all hands on deck. As Nigerians, we should all get involved in securing our nation,” Tinubu said.

​Withdrawal of Officers from VIP Guard Duties

Last month, Tinubu directed the immediate withdrawal of police personnel assigned to political office holders and influential individuals across the country.

A few days later, Inspector General of Police, Olukayode Egbetokun, revealed that a total of 11,566 policemen have been withdrawn from VIPs across the country.

He said: “We’ve withdrawn 11,566 policemen from VIPs. It’s a presidential order. No more ‘the U.S.-Nigeria people, no minister, no friend can call and pressure me again.”

The policy is a departure from assigning thousands of trained police officers to guard politicians, business elites, and private individuals.

Appointments of Officials to Form U.S.-Nigeria Joint Working Group 

On November 27, 2025, Tinubu approved the composition of the team for the U.S.-Nigeria security working group to tackle the nation’s pressing security challenges. 

​The establishment of this U.S.-Nigeria working group is a result of high-level talks held recently in Washington, D.C., where a Nigerian delegation, led by the National Security Adviser (NSA), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, met with key U.S government officials. 

Shortly after the meeting, the Nigerian Presidency announced the group, explaining that the primary goal of the group is to create a unified and coordinated approach for implementing various agreements across defense, intelligence sharing, and counter-terrorism efforts. 

According to a press statement issued by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, on Thursday, Ribadu will lead the Nigerian team of the security working group.

Members of the working group, as contained in a statement include the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Amb. Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, Minister of Defence, Mohammed Badaru Abubakar, Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Bernard M. Doro, Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Olufemi Oluyede, Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency, Amb. Mohammed Mohammed and the Inspector General of Police, Mr Kayode Egbetokun.

“Ms Idayat Hassan of the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) and Mr Paul Alabi of the Embassy of Nigeria in the US will serve as the secretariat,” the statement added.

No Ransom Policy

The Presidency claimed that the Tinubu administration is against engaging in negotiations with terrorist groups and bandits plaguing the nation. 

Tinubu’s adviser on policy communication, Daniel Bwala, made this known while reacting to reports that the federal government allegedly negotiated with terrorists over the release of some students who were abducted in November.

Bwala who often draw backlash while defending his principal claimed: “There was a time the federal government was negotiating (with terrorists), and I think that el-Rufai (the former Kaduna governor) once talked about a national policy at that time, when they said both states and the federal government can be in a situation where they will have to negotiate.

“Because if your duty is to preserve the lives of people, and citizens of Nigeria are in danger, and negotiation is the only way to save them, and you have to save them, then you have to do all that you need to do to save them at that time.

“But President Tinubu came with this zero tolerance on negotiation because it didn’t fit into the terrorism financing. You see, you are constructively financing terrorism without knowing it.

“So instead of elements that are sponsoring them by giving them the money as ransom to collect the people, they also use the ransom money to buy more weapons.

“So the federal government does not tolerate the idea of negotiation.”

However, many Nigerians are still demanding to know how the Nigerian government secured the release of all 24 schoolgirls abducted from the Maga school and the about 50 of the over 300 abducted from a Catholic school in Niger last month. Some commentators went far to ask whether a release like that could have happened without taking out the abductors in military gun duel with the terrorists amid government claims of no ransom policy.

Pan-Atlantic Kompass