By Adekunle Adekoya
What initially began as isolated incidents after the death of Mohammed Yusuf, the late founder of Boko Haram after his death in July 2009 later balooned into full-scale insurgency with which we have struggled to no end for 16 years. Then, the insurgents were trying to establish control over ungoverned spaces in parts of Borno State far from the capital. Later, they grew bolder, started levying taxes on residents, and within a short time, established control.
They became so entrenched that countries of the Lake Chad area had to form a joint security outfit to respond to them. And so we had the Multi-National Joint task Force, the MNJTF, comprising soldiers and other security operatives from Nigeria, Chad and Niger Republic. But they were not deterred. Having secured the backing of international terror organisations like Al-Qaeda, ISWAP and others, terrorists have sustained their onslaught on Nigeria’s territorial sovereignty through repeated attacks on many towns and villages, in Borno and Adamawa.
Then came the Chibok kidnapping. Instead of the power elite, including the opposition, to rally round the government of the day in rooting out the evil of terrorism from our land, they opted to politicise it, with the intent of using it to acquire political power. They succeeded and are now in power. By that time, the entire North-East of the country, comprising Borno, Adamawa, Yobe and parts of Gombe and Taraba states were already yoked to terrorism.
From the North-East, they moved to the North-Western and North Central states — Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara. The North Central region (Middle Belt) consists of Benue, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, Plateau and the FCT. Schools, including universities, were being raided and students being herded into the bushes from where ransom was demanded. In Benue, they were not just kidnapping, terrorists embarked on an unrelenting bloodbath that has turned the state into one massive canvas of sorrow. Last year, Yelewata, in Benue State, made world headlines when over 200 people were massacred and the entire village set on fire, all in one attack. As we speak, killings continue in Benue State, almost on a daily basis, the last being an attack on Abande community in Turan, Kwande Local Government Area.
Terrorist activity in Katsina also picked up, and they were so daring and relentless in their attacks that it has now become a policy of that state government to appease terrorists by negotiating with them and using money from the state’s coffers to pay them. The story is no less horrible in Kaduna. That is the state with the highest number of military institutions, and yet, terrorist activities have been sustained in a way that leaves one wondering why we have uniformed services at all. The last major one, the kidnapping of 173 worshippers from two churches in Kurmin Wali, in Southern Kaduna, is the most recent. Plateau State, of course, has had more than its share of terrorist activities, and while there seems to be a lull, the state might not have seen the last. Kogi and Nasarawa states have also not been spared as well. Only last November, six directors in the civil service travelling to sit for a promotional examination were among passengers abducted in Kogi State.
Last year, on November 21, 2025 terrorists abducted 315 persons from St Mary’s School in Papiri, Niger St The victims included 303 students and 12 teachers. Following the attack, schools in Niger State, as well as many in nearby states, closed indefinitely. Fifty students escaped soon after and returned to their families. In December, another hundred students were released by the kidnappers. On December 21st, the presidency said that all of the children had been released, and that none are still in captivity. And now, Kwara. The nation is still reeling from news of the massacre of no less than 162 persons in an attack by terrorists on Woro village in Kaiama Local Government area of Kwara State. No less than 75 corpses from the attack were given mass burial. It is noteworthy to remember that Kwara State got drawn into the web of terror attacks from the middle of last year.
From the above, it is clear that in at least three of Nigeria’s geo-political regions — North-East, North-West and North-Central, terrorists are on rampage, killing, maiming, destroying. Not that the other three regions are safe havens. Far from it; just that they are not experiencing terror attacks on the scale of the three aforementioned regions, yet. And there is nothing on ground to suggest that the relative peace being enjoyed in the South-West and South-South and South-East will endure. This is because the movement of terrorists have followed a clear and discernible pattern from the North-East through the Middle Belt, from where they bifurcated to states of the North-Central and North-West. We are now so used to terror attacks that stubborn young men are laughingly called the name of notorious terrorists. It is common now to hear a street thug called Bello Turji, or Lakurawa.
Meanwhile, we have the Police, the Armed Forces, and other uniformed services charged to protect our people, yet this bloodbath continues. Someone will have to pay for the innocent blood being shed daily, including those who will not do their jobs!
My problem in all of this is that those we have entrusted with the responsibility of managing our affairs do not, in my reckoning, seem to understand the magnitude of the problem we have at hand. It is a clear and present threat to the life and future of this country. Let it be told: If what has happened in the North-East, North-Central, and the North-West should happen in the South-West and South-South, it’s game over, because there will be no country left to loot its coffers, become a governor, senator, or president. This is a clarion call on businessmen and politicians and in fact anybody who still needs a country to rise to the occasion and save Nigeria. TGIF.
