The headline for this piece is a working title and for convenience. It does not capture the totality of the menace of the bandits in the country. If anything, the hoodlums are running faster and have actually gone beyond getting closer; they have literally taken over. The recent attack on three schools in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State, where about 30 students and teachers were kidnapped and one of the teachers eventually beheaded, is an indication of the extent of the trouble at hand. We are all captives, in a way!
By Emeka Alex Duru
The headline for this piece is a working title and for convenience. It does not capture the totality of the menace of the bandits in the country. If anything, the hoodlums are running faster and have actually gone beyond getting closer; they have literally taken over. The recent attack on three schools in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State, where about 30 students and teachers were kidnapped and one of the teachers eventually beheaded, is an indication of the extent of the trouble at hand. We are all captives, in a way!
My article of Friday, November 28, 2025, titled, ‘Help, terrorists have taken over!’ which documented the developments surrounding the recovery of 38 Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) worshippers previously abducted in Eruku, Kwara State; release of 51 of the missing students of the Catholic School in Niger State and freedom for 24 students of the Government Comprehensive Girls Secondary School, Maga, in Danko Wasagu Local Government Area of Kebbi State, confirmed the extent of advantage the terrorists had amassed over the country. The essay summed that “from all indications, terrorists have taken over. They dictate the pace, while Nigeria tags along, living at their mercy and whims”. There could not have been a better way of situating the helplessness of a country.
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In diplomacy and international relations, the realism school admits states as the central actors in international politics, not leaders or even, amorphous organisations. The state is thus, assigned the monopoly of the instruments of violence, especially in the enforcement of law and order. On no account should such obligation be abdicated to non-state actors.
Nearer home, Chapter Two, Section 14 (b) of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria (as amended) is explicit that “the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government”. By the prescription, welfare of Nigerians should be the first priority of the government. But that is not the situation. Criminal elements are rather, in charge. Since 2009 when the terrorists launched their murderous campaigns through Boko Haram, the outlaws have always dictated the pace, while the country remains beholden to them. The Oyo abduction is therefore, not an isolated incident but in line with the persistent assaults on Nigerians and the national security while the authorities carry on as if all is well.
Today, in many parts of the country, the citizens are living in fears, while the criminals enjoy free reign. Some instances explain the situation better: Recent reports put the number of people so far murdered in the southern and northern senatorial districts of Kwara State between January 2025 and March 2026 at over 400. In the Woro community of Kaiama Local Government Area alone, 176 people were murdered in one single attack. Many are still in the kidnappers’ den. Few days ago, at least 17 police officers undergoing specialised operational training were killed after suspected insurgents attacked the Nigerian Army Special Forces School in Buni Yadi, Gujba Local Government Area of Yobe State. The officers were participating in advanced tactical and counter-terrorism training when gunmen launched a coordinated overnight assault on the military facility. Earlier in the month, eight persons were killed during an early morning attack in Makurdi, Benue State.
Elsewhere in Plateau, Katsina, Borno, similar ugly stories resonate. Farmers can no longer access their farms for fear of being attacked or beheaded. Family and communal life has been disrupted. Information on the net suggests that Nigeria hosts one of the largest Internally Displaced Person (IDP) populations in sub-Saharan Africa, with over 3 million individuals forced from their homes due to the Boko Haram insurgency in the Northeast, farmer-herder clashes in the Middle Belt, and widespread banditry and kidnappings in the Northwest. The figure could just be conservative given that some of the displaced persons and families are unaccounted for.
To be sure, the ravaging security crisis is not peculiar to Nigeria. Other nations have their fair shares of the strife. The menace is also not a creation of the current President Bola Tinubu administration. It predates the government. But the lethargy by the government and its clear lack of focus in addressing the challenge, are issues enabling the malaise to fester. It rankles for instance, that there is no defined strategic approach in addressing insecurity in the land. The government is rather caught gambling with adhoc and breezy measures expressed in languid reaction to attacks by the terrorists or yielding to their terms in timorous modes.
By succumbing to the terms and conditions by the terrorists, Nigeria has fallen for their game. Terrorism is ideological. It entails blackmail and use of violence by the operatives against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological agenda. The aim is to instill fear, widespread insecurity and render victims vulnerable. Terrorists leverage fear as a strategic tool to influence the people and decision makers. This is why it is dangerous to negotiate with them or their sponsors on their terms. Terrorists operate on the framework of entitlement. They are blackmailers and do not keep to their words but rather ask for more concessions. They can hardly be appeased or bought off; hence one instance of appeasement emboldens them to embark on more escapades. By their weird philosophy, the success of each bizarre operation, fires the zeal for more odious outings.
The day the Nigerian government shrunk to the point of negotiating with terrorists for the release of its abducted citizens, was the day it traded off whatever remained of its claims to legitimacy over the affairs of the nation. Those initial faulty steps have seen the country facing more embarrassments, more blackmail and more assaults from criminals of all hues. Each set of the criminals now sees the country as the axiomatic cake to be sliced from or booty to be shared. Bandits, terrorists, insurgents or whatever names they bear, are like soulless gods that cannot be placated. They must always make demands that the government must attend to if only to keep them momentarily at bay. Terrorists only yield to the language of force and superior firepower.
It is high time the government rose to the occasion and face the realities of the day. Security is a big issue to be toyed with. It can cost a lot to be put in place but can be more expensive to be ignored. For years, Nigerian leaders have chosen the latter and the country is paying for the crass error of judgment. This is the time for the government at all levels to stand and with firm resolve, declare; “thus far, no further”!
But to do so, the consuming passion for and undue attention to the reelection of the President, the governors and other officials of the government in 2027, may have to take the back seat and allow good governance to prevail, at least, for once. Nigeria is currently on all fours. This can be worrisome, to sane minds. As it seems, the entire scheme by President Tinubu and his gang in the political class for 2027, may remain a mirage if the security and welfare of the state is not taken adequate care of. The embarrassing ease of attacks on police and military formations across the land, is enough indication that no part or section of the country is safe. No individual, not even the president, is equally safe. This should be the lesson for all.
