The situation with insecurity in Nigeria has reached the state of alarm. Across the land, life is uncertain, and no one is safe. In the centre of Nigeria in Abuja, the confrontation between the Shiites and security forces led to the death of five of their members.
The general view is that the nation’s capital is only safe within the city itself, as cases of kidnapping, armed robbery and violent clashes are prevalent in the suburbs of the Federal Capital Territory. The North West region has witnessed a surge in rural banditry, with attacks reported in Katsina, Zamfara and Kaduna States where local defence militias and vigilante groups constantly clash with herdsmen and cattle rustlers. It would seem that the Islamic State West African Province (ISWAP) has become increasingly active across Nigeria, showing a capacity and intent to conduct operations across large parts of the country. Criminal bandit groups are also active throughout the country, targeting civilians, motorists, and local communities, often involving gunfire, explosives, and kidnapping.
In some very disturbing trends, these criminal elements have constituted a great threat to critical national infrastructure, destroying transmission stations and cables, thus throwing the nation into darkness. These incidents highlight the complexity and severity of the security challenges facing Nigeria, with various regions experiencing different types of violence.
The primary responsibility of the government is to provide security for lives and property and to guarantee the welfare of the people. This has not been achieved in the recent past, despite the huge resources accruing to the government from excessive taxes upon the people, fuel subsidy payments and huge loans being incurred on our collective behalf. Many are scared to commute by road because the national road network has virtually disappeared, forcing citizens to travel by air. A good number of people now move with armoured vehicles and armed escorts, indicating a total collapse of the security architecture, all over Nigeria. Nigeria is bleeding.
STATE OF EMERGENCY
Generally, an emergency connotes an unforeseen combination of circumstances or the resulting state that calls for immediate action. It is a situation that requires urgent need for assistance, action or relief. Legally, a state of emergency relates to the occurrence of events that are beyond the regular state of affairs. In Nigeria, this is aptly captured under section 305 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, as amended, in the following terms.
“(1) Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, the President may by instrument published in the Official Gazette of the Government of the Federation issue a Proclamation of a State of Emergency in the Federation or any part thereof.
(2) The President shall immediately after the publication, transmit copies of the Official Gazette of the Government of the Federation containing the proclamation including the details of the emergency to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, each of whom shall forthwith convene or arrange for a meeting of the House of which he is President or Speaker, as the case may be, to consider the situation and decide whether or not to pass a resolution approving the Proclamation.
(3) The President shall have power to issue a Proclamation of a State of Emergency only when-
(a) the Federation is at war;
(b) the Federation is in imminent danger of invasion or involvement in a state of war;
(c) there is actual breakdown of public order and public safety in the Federation or any part thereof to such extent as to require extraordinary measures to restore peace and security;
(d) there is a clear and present danger of an actual breakdown of public order and public safety in the Federation or any part thereof requiring extraordinary measures to avert such danger;
(e) there is an occurrence or imminent danger, or the occurrence of any disaster or natural calamity, affecting the community or a section of the community in the Federation;
(f) there is any other public danger which clearly constitutes a threat to the existence of the Federation; or
(g) the President receives a request to do so in accordance with the provisions of subsection (4) of this section.
WIDESPREAD CASES OF VIOLENCE
Let us foray into the details of recent occurrences of imminent danger, current danger of breakdown of public order and public safety. On March 18, 2025, the President relied on section 305 above to declare a state of emergency in Rivers State, through a nationwide broadcast on account of isolated cases of attacks on oil facilities by unknown militia groups. That led to the suspension of democratically elected officials, including the governor of the state and all elected representatives of the people. The conditions referred to or relied upon by the President for the proclamation of a state of emergency in Rivers State also prevail in other parts of Nigeria.
The same March 18 that the President declared a state of emergency in Rivers State, over 100,000 people were displaced and property worth well over two billion Naira were destroyed when violence broke out between Ilobu and Ifon communities in Osun State. Many were forced to evacuate their homes because of the violence despite the imposition of curfew by the government. Osun State had been in the eye of the storm previously for the collapse of governance at the local government level following rival claims to leadership by the two leading political parties. This led to violence and the death of some persons.
On Friday March 28, 2025, hunters returning from their hunting expedition were ambushed by vigilantes in Uromi, Edo State and they were brutally murdered by a mob of local vigilantes in an extra judicial and reckless display of intolerance. It has taken the good intervention of elders and leaders across Nigeria to avert a reprisal attack. It is gratifying that some of the perpetrators have been apprehended and they are to face the consequences of their brutality. The hunters were said to have been taken as suspected kidnappers. Earlier on March 19, 2025 in neighboring Ondo State, five farmers were shot dead by suspected herdsmen in Aba Oyinbo in Akure North Local Government area of the state. This came after about fourteen persons were reportedly murdered by gunmen in Ademekun, Aba Sunday, Aba Pastor and Alajido in the same local government area. No one has been apprehended and there is mortal fear across the state concerning these unfortunate developments.
A joint security task force comprising all security agencies in the state has been inaugurated by the government hoping that it will stem the ugly tide of violence in a state generally known to be peaceful. In Borno State, insurgents attacked the military base in an attempt to dislodge the security mounted against their criminal operations but they were repelled by gallant soldiers who fought for their fatherland. This is the case with most states in the North East where the economy has been grounded and people are forced to pay levies imposed by bandits and insurgents in order to continue their farming and other activities.
The South East zone is gripped with mindless orgy of violence being perpetrated by indigenous militants in the name of the struggle for self determination, which in itself is a laudable enterprise but for the corruption that has attended its implementation. Good enough, some of the governors have risen to the occasion by frontally confronting the criminal elements who front as Biafra agitators. In the South West, cases of cultism, armed robbery, ritualism and internet fraud have been on the increase, although huge resources are deployed to manage the media such that not much is heard of these in the public domain.
In the Middle Belt zone, Benue State has witnessed unprecedented attacks on farmers by herdsmen, leading to the death of thousands of people. Beyond these attacks, the Governor of Benue State is pursuing a needless war of attrition against the Chief Judge of the State, through the House of Assembly of the State. In Plateau State, the story is not so different with the mass invasion of communities by herdsmen and criminal bandits.
URGENT SECURITY SUMMIT OR RESIGNATION
The issues surrounding and affecting the security architecture in Nigeria are rendered opaque by those who are in charge for very obvious reasons. The funding itself is mind boggling to the extent that security has become big business. The situations of emergency outlined in section 305 of the Constitution currently permeate the length and breadth of Nigeria, thus necessitating the need for an urgent summit of all stakeholders to develop critical solutions for immediate implementation.
When people find it difficult to move about at will, when the least engagement outside one’s zone requires armed escorts and people cannot farm, fish, trade or travel safely, then a state of emergency is already upon us all. It is not to isolate Rivers State and other areas of immediate impact. We pretend about it at our collective peril. As the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, the President is directly in charge of security in the country and he takes all the blame for the collapse of security across the land.
The President seemed overwhelmed or at least unprepared for the task of securing the land and the people. Next month, it will be two years since the President took his oath of office, with no improvement in the security situation. The time to act is now and where there seems to be no solution in sight, the appropriate thing to do by the President is to vacate his office.
