President Bola Tinubu’s government has said that many of the terrorists behind killings and kidnapping for ransom across the country are French-speaking foreigners.

George Akume, the secretary to the government of the federation, made this claim while addressing the first plenary of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria, held at St. Gabriel’s Chaplaincy, Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria, Abuja, on Sunday.

“Insecurity is a problem not only in this country but throughout the world. Even advanced countries are going through this,” Mr Akume said. “Those who are doing the killings, most of them are from outside the country. I say what I know to be true based on security reports.”

The SGF added, “Many of these people who have been arrested don’t speak English. They speak very poor Hausa, but they speak French. Do we speak French in Nigeria? No.”

Mr Akume also spoke about the Nigerian government collaborating with America and the international community to combat heightened insecurity in the country.

“It is not that we are just sitting by; America is cooperating with Nigeria. We are working together,” Mr Akume said. “The main reason the President was in Turkey was to purchase more armaments. This includes drones. So we are not just sitting idle.”

Over the weekend, about 38 people were killed in Dutse Dan Ajiya in Zamfara.

Amnesty International lamented the spate of killings across the country in recent days, berating Mr Tinubu’s government for lacking effective plans to end the insecurity crisis.

In a statement on Saturday, Amnesty International said, “Twenty days into February, at least 323 people have been killed in different attacks on rural communities in Benue, Katsina, Kwara, Kebbi, Niger and Zamfara states.”