By Comrade Hamza Abdu
The first and most sacred duty of any government is the protection of lives and property. Every other responsibility of the state flows from this fundamental obligation. When a government is unable to guarantee the safety of its citizens, when innocent people are routinely killed, kidnapped and terrorized by criminal elements operating with impunity, it raises profound questions about the very essence of governance. Sadly, this is the reality confronting Nigeria today.
Across vast parts of the country, particularly in the North-West, North-East and parts of the North-Central region, insurgents, terrorists, kidnappers and bandits have become a constant threat to the lives and livelihoods of ordinary citizens. Villages are attacked at will. Communities are destroyed. Farmers are driven away from their farmlands. Travellers are ambushed on highways. Schoolchildren are abducted from classrooms. Families live in perpetual fear, uncertain whether their loved ones will return safely from a journey, market, a visit or even a day on the farm.
Nothing illustrates this national tragedy more painfully than the recent abduction of retired Major General Rabe Abubakar, former Director of Defence Information and former spokesman of the Nigerian military, alongside his wife in Matazu Local Government Area of Katsina State. Days after their abduction, their captors reportedly released a video showing the retired General and his wife appealing for intervention and conveying the demands of their abductors, including the release of arrested bandits and confiscated livestock.
The symbolism is both painful and alarming. If a retired Major General who dedicated decades of his life to defending Nigeria can be abducted and held captive by criminals who now dictate terms to the authorities and cannot be rescued, what hope remains for the ordinary farmer, trader, teacher, student or civil servant? If such a distinguished citizen cannot be swiftly rescued and his abductors punished, what confidence can ordinary Nigerians have in the state’s capacity to protect them?
No sane society can normalize such a situation. Yet Nigeria appears to be doing exactly that. Mass kidnappings, gruesome attacks on communities, destruction of livelihoods and the abduction of schoolchildren have become recurring headlines without any daring rescue efforts but lame negotiations. What should provoke national outrage now barely generates more than temporary concern before the next tragedy occurs.
This normalization of insecurity is itself a great shame and be viewed as a national emergency. Perhaps the most troubling aspect of the crisis is the growing perception that the Nigerian state is overwhelmed. Despite the frequency of kidnappings and attacks, there have not been any remarkably daring rescue operations by the security forces, capable of reassuring citizens that government retains the upper hand over criminal elements. The state appears increasingly reactive rather than proactive, responding to atrocities after they occur instead of preventing them.
Many Nigerians are beginning to question whether the government possesses the intelligence, operational capability and political will required to decisively confront terrorists, kidnappers and bandits. Rather than witnessing spectacular rescue missions that neutralize criminal networks and liberate hostages, citizens are repeatedly confronted with stories of negotiations, ransom demands and concessions to armed groups that should ordinarily be in prison facing the full consequences of their crimes.
The implications are dangerous. Every successful kidnapping strengthens criminal networks and weakens public confidence in the authority of the state. Every ransom paid provides resources for future attacks. Every concession made to armed groups emboldens them to escalate their criminal enterprise. When kidnappers can abduct citizens, demand the release of arrested accomplices and compel families to raise impossible sums of money, the line between state authority and criminal coercion becomes dangerously blurred.
Even more alarming is the emergence of criminal taxation across many rural communities. In several parts of the country, farmers now pay protection fees to bandits before accessing their farmlands. Others are compelled to surrender portions of their harvest or make payments before they can cultivate or harvest crops. Criminal gangs determine who farms, where people travel and, in some cases, whether communities can live in peace.
This is an affront to the sovereignty of the Nigerian state. No nation can truly claim authority over its territory when criminals collect taxes, regulate economic activities and exercise powers that rightly belong to government institutions.
The widespread proliferation of weapons has further compounded the crisis. Armed groups now possess sophisticated weapons and communication networks that enable them to challenge state authority. Vast ungoverned spaces provide safe havens from which they launch attacks and retreat with little resistance. In many communities, citizens increasingly rely on local vigilantes and self-help arrangements because they no longer believe the state can guarantee their security.
The consequences are devastating. Agricultural production has suffered as farmers abandon their fields for fear of attack. Businesses have collapsed. Investments have declined. Children have lost access to education. Entire communities have been displaced from ancestral homes. Beyond the physical destruction lies the enormous psychological trauma inflicted on victims and their families, wounds that may take generations to heal, if they ever do.
A nation cannot prosper under such conditions.Security is not merely another item on the government’s agenda; it is the foundation upon which economic growth, social stability, national unity and development are built. Without security, there can be no meaningful progress.
The time has therefore come for a comprehensive reassessment of Nigeria’s security architecture. Government at all levels must elevate the protection of human life above every other consideration. Security agencies must be better equipped, better coordinated and properly supported. Intelligence gathering must be strengthened. Border security must be enhanced to curb the flow of illicit arms. Criminal networks must be dismantled systematically, while those who sponsor, finance or harbor terrorists and bandits must be identified and prosecuted without fear or favour.
Above all, the government must demonstrate through concrete action that the lives of Nigerians matter. Citizens need to see evidence that the state possesses both the courage and the capacity to protect them. Every attack on a community must attract swift and decisive response. Every kidnapped citizen deserves the full commitment of national resources toward securing their freedom. Every life lost must matter.
The immediate priority must be the safe and unconditional rescue of retired Major General Rabe Abubakar and his wife, the kidnapped school children in Borno and Oyo states, along with thousands of other Nigerians still languishing in captivity across the country. Every hour they remain in the hands of criminals is a painful reminder of the state’s failure to discharge its most fundamental responsibility.
Beyond government action, citizens must also play their part in confronting this menace. Communities must stop hobnobbing with bandits, terrorists and other criminal elements under whatever guise. Those who provide information, shelter, logistics, supplies or any form of support to criminals are contributing to the destruction of their own communities and should be treated as accomplices in criminality.
The people of Matazu Local Government Area, on whose soil General Rabe Abubakar and his wife were abducted, must cooperate fully with security agencies by providing credible intelligence that could aid rescue efforts and expose those behind this heinous crime. The Katsina State Government, working in close collaboration with the Federal Government and security agencies, must spare no effort in ensuring the safe return of General Rabe Abubakar and his spouse.
Furthermore, local government chairmen and state governments must be held accountable for the security situation within their respective domains. While security remains a shared responsibility, elected leaders at all levels must not be allowed to evade responsibility when kidnappings and violent crimes become rampant under their watch. Citizens have a right to demand answers, action and results from those entrusted with leadership.
Equally important, all individuals found aiding and abetting criminals, whether through sponsorship, intelligence leaks, logistics, concealment or collaboration, must face the full wrath of the law. The fight against insecurity cannot succeed if those who enable criminal networks continue to operate with impunity.
Government must act with urgency, resolve and determination. Nigerians deserve more than assurances; they deserve results. They deserve a country where law-abiding citizens are protected and criminals live in fear of justice, not the other way around.
For a nation blessed with immense human and natural resources, it is unacceptable that innocent citizens are hunted, kidnapped and murdered while criminals roam freely with weapons of war. It is unacceptable that farmers must seek permission from bandits to cultivate their land. It is unacceptable that families are driven into poverty to ransom their loved ones. Above all, it is unacceptable that a retired General who once defended this nation must now plead for freedom from the hands of criminals.
A country that cannot guarantee the safety of its citizens risks surrendering not only its territory but also its moral authority and national soul. Until every Nigerian can travel, work, farm, learn and sleep without fear; until General Rabe Abubakar and his wife are safely reunited with their family; until criminal gangs are decisively defeated and the sanctity of human life is restored, the insecurity ravaging our nation will remain what it truly is a national disgrace, a collective indictment of leadership and a profound shame of a nation.
Comrade Hamza Abdu, a Public Affairs Commentator, lives in Kaduna