In a recent legal analysis provided on Channels Television’s Politics Today, on Monday the 22nd of December, 2025, Kabiru Adamu, the Managing Director of Beacon Consulting Limited, challenged the executive arm’s role in classifying insurgent entities.
Addressing the Tinubu administration’s stance on armed groups, Adamu clarified that the authority to label an organization as “terrorist” is a judicial function rather than a presidential prerogative. He noted that neither the Commander-in-Chief nor his cabinet members possess the unilateral right to make such a designation under the current legal framework.
“The president does not have the power to determine whether a group is a terrorist or not, neither does any member of the administration. That power resides with the competent court of jurisdiction.”
According to Adamu, the definitive guide for these classifications is rooted in the legislative updates made in 2022. He argued that these laws provide the specific criteria needed for such serious designations.
“The law that determines who a terrorist is in Nigeria is the Terrorism (Prohibition and Prevention) Act, as amended in 2022.”
He elaborated that this specific Act outlines the criteria for what constitutes an act of terror and establishes the rigid legal protocols for identifying perpetrators or their financial backers.
A central theme of Adamu’s argument was the separation of powers regarding national security law. He emphasized that the responsibility is shared between the chief legal officer of the federation and the courts, effectively excluding the executive’s direct interference.
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“It defines what terrorism is, and it also provides the procedure for determining what or who a terrorist group is, or who is supporting or financing terrorism.”
“And that law puts the responsibility for that determination in a competent court of jurisdiction. It also puts the responsibility for petitioning and reaching that determination on the Attorney-General of the Federation.”
Adamu concluded by reinforcing that the rule of law must prevail over administrative declarations, regardless of the severity of a group’s actions.
“So, even the president in this instance does not have the power to determine whether a group is terrorist or not. Neither does any member of the administration of the executive arm,” he said.