Nigeria reportedly provided intelligence to the United States for airstrikes against terrorist elements, according to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Tuggar. The critical question, however, remains: if the government possessed precise intelligence on the activities of these terrorist groups, what prevented it from acting decisively to neutralize or dismantle them?

Moreover, if the issue is a lack of capacity to conduct precision strikes, how does a single foreign-led airstrike fundamentally address Nigeria’s deepening insecurity? It is worth noting that while the United States carried out an airstrike in Sokoto, a suicide bomber detonated an explosive in Borno. Must Nigeria perpetually depend on the United States to confront its security challenges?

Even if we assume, without conceding, that the United States could eventually resolve Nigeria’s security problems, would it also reform our electoral system, strengthen healthcare delivery, or create meaningful economic opportunities for Nigerians?

Many Nigerians justify foreign intervention on the grounds of the repeated failures of successive Nigerian governments. Yet one must ask: who intervened to resolve America’s own existential struggles, including its civil war between 1861 and 1865?

If our governments have failed so woefully, why do we not change them through the election of more credible leaders capable of governing effectively? Can a single airstrike, or even multiple airstrikes, truly resolve Nigeria’s critical security concerns?

What, then, is our excuse for repeatedly producing incompetent leadership – from Obasanjo to Yar’Adua, Goodluck Jonathan, Buhari, and now Tinubu? Is it that votes do not count, or that elections are rigged?

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And who rigs elections? Who sells their conscience, snatches ballot boxes, intimidates voters, thumbprints ballots, and manipulates results at INEC? Are they outsiders, or Nigerians like you and me?

Until we accept that we are collectively complicit in the crisis Nigeria has become, no foreign power will save us. The destiny of this nation rests in our collective resolve to do what is right at all times. That journey begins with electing leaders who present well-articulated, credible, and convincing plans to address our shared challenges.

-Francis Onyema, 2027 presidential aspirant