Anyone in Nigeria, or knowledgeable about Nigeria, who, in relation to the prevailing security situation therein, asks, “what is going on?”, is either being poetic or is naïve. What is going on is obvious. Fulani terrorists, formally acknowledged now, to swoop from abroad, are on a mission to overrun the Nigerian territory and enthrone an entirely different order.
Their goal is clear and comprehensive. It is apparently not an expedition for a regime change. The aim appears to be total domination of the Nigerian territory, with a view to alter the cultural, religious, political and economic realms existing prior to their projected conquest. It is not difficult to read the blueprint. Where progress in their definite assignment requires killing off persons they meet on the ground, so be it.
So far, the terrorists are making remarkable progress in their campaign. They may likely be marvelling at how easy their campaign is progressing. There is hardly resistance from any quarters, across the four ends of the Nigerian territory. It is either people are shell-shocked or they are bewitched. It is also worth noting that Muhammadu Buhari once mopped up all arms from Nigerians, as part of his (in)security agenda.
Could terrorists from abroad have descended on a foreign land and be seamlessly slicing through unknown territories as a hot knife through butter, without the aid of local accessories? Almost impossible.
The question is not whether there are local accomplices of the Fulani terrorists in the current onslaught in Nigeria. That question is mute. The critical question is, how involved in the villainy are officials of the state in sensitive security positions, or prominent individuals in one lofty social stool or another?
In 2017 or thereabout, Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) opened up about the treasonable arrangement in 2015, in which the leadership of APC imported Fulani mercenaries from across the West African sub-region, into Nigeria. The arrangement was in readiness for war, had incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples democratic Party defeated APC’s Muhammadu Buhari in the presidential election.
The election was called otherwise, but the mercenaries never left. There was even an open quarrel at some point between the imported Fulani mercenaries and the APC leaders who procured them, about appropriate payment. Only in Nigeria. Of course, with the culprits in power, there was no question of security investigation of such act of betrayal of national security.
From all indications, those early batches of murderers and terrorists that stood guard to herald APC into power, as it were, have multiplied in numbers and viciousness of intent. Following on that APC example, some other individuals and groups with fundamentalism instinct must have realized that Fulani mercenaries exist to be imported to degrade Nigeria. This is where Nigeria has found itself.
The recent acceleration in the destruction of lives and villages in Plateau and Benue States, as well as increase in killings and kidnapping in virtually all parts of the country, are, without doubt a coordinated campaign, obviously sponsored, not by external forces, but from inside Nigeria, by fundamentalist groups opposed to the country’s inherent pluralism. The government of Nigeria and its security apparatus surely know more. Why they are not doing more is the question.
Public declarations by retired military officers and security operatives abound, of their respective careers truncated at critical points where they were either primed to take decisively action against located terrorist groups, or after they had acted as they ought to. There is yet no known record of the state investigating these public allegations by such retired officers. Military authorities have not refuted their claims, either.
It is not enough therefore, to increase military budget, as a means to combating terrorism. Something much more than high budget figure is required. In terms of budgeting, recent years have recorded efforts to enhance the defence budget. The 2025 estimate for instance, saw the defence budget rising to N6.11 trillion, the highest in the history of the country. Subjected to detailed analysis, though, the figure loses substantial meaning. For one, the figure covers the Police, Immigration and Civil Defence, as well as the administrative end of the military.
In the previous year,2024 the defence budget was N3.10 trillion, while that for 2023 was N2.79 trillion. In reality, these figures fall below what is required, operationally, to make a mark, in the face of the challenges confronting the country. All the same, they show effort to provide more resources for the military and security services.
Addressing Nigeria’s escalating insecurity problem is however, not all about defence budget and resource provision. Until the government acquires the will to confront the enemies within, the ground will continue to cave in to the pressure of the terrorists and those who deploy them, to dominate.
This is where the plan by the Senate to hold what it calls security summit comes across as another formality, a jamboree in the making, the outcome of which can already be predicted. Of what value will a two-day gathering of representatives of federal and state governments, local government areas, traditional rulers and religious leaders be in devising serious operational plan against terrorists devastating the land? What useful strategic ideas in ariel or military combat will be expected at the summit plenary from representatives of kidnapped persons across the country? Or from representatives of sacked and displaced villages in Plateau State?
Is it at a national summit that the senate or the government will address allegations by those retired security officials who said some powerful persons moved against them and shielded terrorists? The senate can go ahead and satisfy itself. The truth is evident, however, that the level of insecurity in Nigeria has gone beyond a talk shop. To imagine also that such a summit will gulp scarce resources that can be better deployed in practical push back at terrorism and sundry acts of insecurity.
Senator Shehu Sanni, former senator representing Kaduna central, couldn’t have said it better when he reacted to the idea of a security summit by the senate, thus; “we have had so many talks, summits and conferences about security. What is needed now is more action”. It is as simple as that. Government should summon the will to do what a government is expected to do when war is brought to its door and its citizens are endangered. A national summit is not required for the senate to pass any message to the executive.
As a matter of fact, neither the National Assembly, nor the executive, has shown sufficient concern for the raging insecurity across the country. With swaths of the territory of Nigeria now in the hands of terrorists, whether the areas are forests, cities or burnt villages, and with hundreds of thousands of lives being cut short on weekly basis, a national state of emergency beckons. Every other consideration by the legislature and the executive ought to take secondary place to security issues, until further notice.
The ambush, kidnap and killing of thirty innocent people in transit in the Okigwe area of Imo State last week, was another cold reminder of the prevalence of the scourge. No place is safe. It was most condemnable and callous therefore, that even with a viral video of the Fulani terrorists involved in that incident, as with all others, references were being made in some official security quarters, to Eastern Security Network and IPOB. This is the type of tendency that has denied the military and other security agencies necessary support in some places where they can do with that.
The senate needs to meet with security agencies and the military high command, in camera, with a view to establishing why technology is not serving Nigeria’s need in the fight against terrorism. If Nigeria’s security apparatus cannot locate forces in the country working in cahoots with terrorists, then there may be need to outsource part of the intel job to Burkina Faso.