Renewed Insecurity in Nigeria: Which Way, Nigeria?
By AK Peters, PhD
Nigeria is bleeding openly, relentlessly, and without restraint. The last few weeks have torn away any illusion that the nation is in control of its own security. From the shockwaves of mass abductions to the growing whispers of foreign intervention, the situation has spiralled into a national emergency that can no longer be coated with official optimism or political slogans.
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When the President of the United States, Donald Trump, threatened to invade Nigeria to stop the killing of Christians, many dismissed the remark as bluster. But the world took note. The US designation of Nigeria as a “country of particular concern” was not a diplomatic slap, it was a global alarm bell. Meanwhile, leading clerics like Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah have been dragged into a firestorm of accusations, as if honest debate were the enemy. But the real enemy is the violence ripping through communities, not the voices demanding accountability.
In three harrowing weeks, Nigeria has watched in horror as 38 worshippers were seized in Kwara, 25 schoolgirls in Kebbi, and a staggering 315 children, some as young as four, kidnapped from a Catholic school in Niger State. These are not isolated incidents; they are the anatomy of a failing security structure. They are proof that criminals have grown bolder than the government meant to restrain them.
The conviction of Nnamdi Kanu for terrorism has only deepened national tension, further polarizing a country already on edge. And yet, despite sacking the Service Chiefs and promising a fresh start, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has not delivered the security breakthrough Nigerians desperately hoped for. Three years into the much-advertised Renewed Hope Agenda, many citizens now believe that the administration’s top priority is securing a second term, not securing the nation.
Worse still, the whispers in public spaces are chilling: that ransoms quietly exchanged hands to free abductees, that bandits are being absorbed into the very agencies meant to combat them, that lawmakers insist on keeping bloated VIP security details while ordinary Nigerians are left defenseless. If these claims are true, then the system is not just broken, it is actively betraying the people it was designed to protect.
Nigeria’s reality is stark. Farmers cannot go to their fields. Travellers count every journey as a gamble with death. Even markets,the lifeblood of rural communities, now sit lifeless, swallowed by fear. The country is sitting on a live, ticking device, and our leaders are arguing about who should hold the wire cutters.
Which way, Nigeria?
The time for soft language is over. This nation demands honesty, courage, and decisive action, not political theatre, not half-measures, not empty speeches. Security must become the non-negotiable priority. The recruitment orders issued across the police, military, civil defense, forest guards, and intelligence services will be meaningless if the system remains riddled with compromise and complacency.
Nigeria is running out of time. The people have endured enough. Leadership must rise to meet the moment, or risk presiding over a nation sliding toward irreversible chaos.
The urgency is not tomorrow.
The urgency is now.