Musa mentioned this during an interview with Arise Television on Friday, May 29, 2026.

He stated that, while acts of terrorism and kidnapping continue to occur, the situation has greatly improved in recent years.

The defence minister attributed many of the security difficulties to a breakdown in family values and a lack of social direction.

He claimed that many people involved in kidnappings and other crimes were looking for quick money.

He also claimed that some criminal operations may be politically driven, with the goal of portraying the government as weak or the country as ungovernable.

He said: “Yes, I’ll give ourselves 65 to 70 percent score. No nation is totally free from crime and criminality, but the level of terrorism across the country has actually drastically reduced. 

“Now we have acts of terrorism, and terrorism, like I said, its a social vice, a failure of family values. We have seen fathers kidnapping children, children kidnapping each other, and brothers kidnapping sisters. 

“It tells you that there’s something wrong with the family, and we need to also look inward to see how we can now develop those aspects again, like the issue of education. People need to understand that to make money, work very hard, don’t look for shortcuts. 

“Most of these people taking part in those kidnappings and all these things are looking for shortcuts. 

“And again, you can’t rule out politics, because most of these people they are kidnapping are people that don’t have anything to offer, and you’re asking for one billion naira, knowing that the individual you are kidnapping cannot offer, so what are you doing? Who are you expecting to pay that money? 

“And that’s to tell you that there are some times you can look at it as acts of sabotage to make the government look weak, or to make the country look ungovernable, or whatever.”