By Promise Adiele PhD
Many things in life defy comprehension, rationality, or basic explanation. Certain enigmas defy solution, no matter how hard one tries to understand them. Sometimes, searching for answers to some contradictions numbs the sensibilities. Yet the man of equitable conscience must resist the urge to reconcile some anomalies with the sensibilities. Therefore, we must continue to ask questions, challenge the authorities, ask more questions, and upset the apple cart. How, in the name of heaven and all the controlling elementals in creation, did Nigeria come to the conclusion that terrorists and bandits should be spared, pardoned, rehabilitated, and treated like heroes? Just how? The thought of this reality violates the moral canvas of an enlightened person.
I would need someone to explain to me the origin of the law that stipulates the sparing and rehabilitation of terrorists and bandits in Nigeria. For the sake of one’s mental health, one will simply admit the legitimizing of terrorism and banditry as part of the many incongruities which define Nigeria’s existential order. But the endorsement of evil by the state should never make evil an acceptable social norm. Whatever the origin of the state-permitted rule that terrorists and bandits should be pardoned and reintegrated into society is revoltingly obnoxious. That rule is at the heart of continued terrorism and banditry in the country, and the government is answerable to it.
The government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is helpless, hapless, and confused about the insecurity situation in the country. Of course, insecurity is not a new phenomenon in Nigeria. It did not start three years ago when President Bola Tinubu took over the reins of power, but he stood on his honour and promised Nigerians that he would end insecurity in his first year in office. On such occasions, his audience clapped sheepishly like people bereft of the slightest iota of discernment. We may excuse the current administration for inheriting insecurity from preceding governments in the country, but we must hold this government accountable for failing abysmally to properly address insecurity.
What are the basic issues? Some demented scoundrels, non-state actors obviously sponsored and protected by powerful forces, have continuously unleashed mayhem on Nigeria through terrorism, banditry, and other murderous engagements. Farmers have been killed in the most gruesome manner. Soldiers have been beheaded, and the videos streamed on social media. Pregnant women have been gruesomely murdered and their foetuses forced out of their biological comfort zones. For the terrorists and their enablers, it is a festival of killing, decapitation, and slaughter of Nigerians, irrespective of ethnicity or social standing.
It is difficult to convince anyone that the Federal Republic of Nigeria and all its sophisticated security apparatuses cannot end terrorism and banditry in the country. The big question is, why do the army and other security outfits make efforts to apprehend terrorists and bandits, since they would be summarily released upon capture? These are some of the contradictions that have defied explanation in our country. What is the rationale for rehabilitating terrorists who rape and massacre innocent, defenceless Nigerians? At the risk of painting any gory picture or evoking offensive imagery, terrorists and bandits should all be beheaded openly or buried in a mass grave. They do not deserve any less. But for some impenetrable reasons, the Nigerian state came up with the rule that these demons deserve pardon and pity. Nothing could be more disembowelling.
If the Nigerian government validates the rule that terrorists and bandits should be pardoned and rehabilitated, then why does the same government waste scarce public funds to fight the same terrorists and bandits? Tragically, Nigeria’s National Security Adviser (NSA), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu said that terrorists and bandits are “our brothers” and therefore we must show them some love. Similarly, Katsina State Governor Dikko Raddar also referred to terrorists and bandits as our “brothers and sisters”. It grates on the collective pulse of a nation to accept these utterances without connecting the dots and taking immediate action. How any sane person will refer to demons in human skin as brothers and sisters, or even as friends, defies reasonable explanation.
Presently, innocent school children who do not know their rights from their wrongs, together with their teachers, are held in captivity by “our brothers and sisters” inside a forest. The same “brothers and sisters” beheaded a Mathematics teacher for simply being a teacher. The same group of “brothers” have raped minors, pregnant women, mothers, ladies, and even sodomized young boys in the forest. Yet, we must dress them in expensive uniforms, lodge them in the best hotels, feed them with expensive diets and reintegrate them into society, among rational minds. It is the Nigerian delusion that we must fight terrorists and bandits while also preparing parties and celebrations for them. Ours is indeed a country of bleeding contradictions.
Since the Nigerian government has decided to pardon terrorists and bandits and rehabilitate them, we must extend the frontiers of sinister, malevolent permissiveness without delay. If terrorists and bandits who commit every crime in the books are pardoned and rehabilitated, no Nigerian deserves to be in prison or any form of confinement. It is an injustice of Olympian heights to send people to prison for hunger-induced stealing, minor infractions, and dubious engagements while murderers and enemies of the state enjoy state-sponsored luxury. All the prisons in Nigeria should be razed to the ground, and inmates allowed to return to their families. Armed robbers, internet fraudsters, rapists, drug addicts, peddlers, ritualists, and other forms of heinous criminals must be set free immediately. We must dance naked before the whole world and let them know that our country is a space reserved for vile rules and despicable developments. The government must stop deceiving Nigerians with the rhetoric of fighting terrorism and banditry because there is no genuine intent to wipe out the villains.
In the past, I read how some army officers caught some terrorists and bandits, but were instructed by a higher authority that the terrorists and bandits should be released immediately. That is the reality in our country, and yet, we are regaled with tales of fighting terrorism and banditry in the country. In November 2025, Major General Musa Uba was captured and killed by terrorists. According to reports, after he successfully led a joint air-ground offensive in the Sambisa Forest axis, suspected saboteurs within the ranks leaked his vital security details. Terrorists then ambushed his convoy and tracked him down after he mysteriously separated from his troops. The manner of Uba’s death leaves an ugly patch on the memory of our nation. “Our brothers” murdered him and posted the video on social media. We must show the murderers love and rehabilitate them, while Uba’s wife and children are devastated for the rest of their lives. Recently, the former Director of Defence Information, Major General Rabe Abubakar and his wife, Hajiya Abubakar were kidnapped by terrorists and bandits in Matazu Local Government Area of Katsina State. General Rabe Abubakar eventually died in circumstances shrouded in mystery. Kudos to “our brothers”. Nigeria, we hail thee!!!
The Nigerian government must be intentional, purposeful, and genuinely committed to fighting terrorism and banditry in the country. It defeats every strand of reason that people who massacre Nigerians, including women and children, kill officers of the Nigerian army, and practically challenge the sovereignty of the country, should be pardoned and rehabilitated. This subtle legitimizing of evil in our country must be revisited and abrogated immediately. The laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria regarding murder, rape, stealing, kidnapping, sodomy, and sundry criminality should not stop when terrorists and bandits are concerned. The activities of these monsters currently threaten the continued existence of Nigeria, therefore, the government must be decisive in dealing with the issue.
Goodluck Jonathan once declared that Boko Haram apologists and sympathizers infiltrated his government. On 25 December 2011, Kabiru Sokoto bombed St. Theresa Catholic Church in Madalla and killed dozens of worshippers. Sokoto was eventually found at the official lodge of the then-governor of Borno State and the current Vice-President of Nigeria, Kashim Shettima. While the complicity of government officials in terrorism and banditry cannot be ruled out, as Jonathan averred, the government must henceforth be brutal in combating terrorists and bandits.
Wiping out thousands of “our brothers” should be legitimate to save millions of people in the country. Today, nobody remembers General Olusegun Adeniyi, a fine military officer and former Theatre Commander of Operation Lafiya Dole. He was court-martialled and demoted for making a video and reporting to his Chief of Defence Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai that Boko Haram had more sophisticated weapons and had killed more than fifty officers under his command. General Adeniyi asked for reinforcement to fight terrorists and bandits, and that was his sin. When Nigeria decides to decimate terrorists and bandits, the world will know. For now, it is a circus, and the government must be held accountable.
Promise Adiele PhD is of Mountain Top University and can be reached at promee01@yahoo.com, X: @drpee4