HARD as I have tried to be silent over the insecurity situation in Nigeria, which has taken a scary turn in recent times, social media footage and images of helpless Nigerians being publicly molested, tortured, or even gruesomely killed in kidnappers’ dens and the resultant panic waves that instantly throw immediate families into severe distress, and citizens into a state of perpetual anxiety, would not allow.
In the past, having the presence of mind to dwell on other critical issues confronting the nation was easier, even while not losing sight of its lingering insecurity predicament. But in a situation where highly organised abductions are being simultaneously executed successfully, back-to-back, in different geo-political zones, it would take a stone heart to dwell on anything, at the moment, other than calling for concerted efforts at finding the way out of this national pain.
The helplessness depicted in some video clips, particularly by serving and retired top military personnel in terrorists’ hideouts, has seriously messed with the mental health of the majority of citizens who see the anomaly as a sign that no one is safe. However, the pain and fear associated with the widespread kidnapping of innocent schoolchildren, sometimes along with their defenceless teachers, from nowhere other than schools where they should be safe, can, beyond messing with mental health, cause permanent damage to the confidence of Nigerians in the entire system.
There have been different analyses on pre-election insecurity in Nigeria, especially coordinated school abductions. While some see this as a collective problem that should be tackled with the genuine cooperation of citizens and governments at all levels, some others, unfortunately, see this strictly as a campaign point against any government in power, not minding the absurdity of what has sadly been foisted on the nation as an unpalatable “norm” whenever general elections are approaching.
Right now, there is a renewed outrage, and deservedly so, over the May 15, 2026, school abductions in Oyo and Borno states, where over 80 children and their teachers were kidnapped from their schools. If the operation at Government Day Junior Secondary School, in Askira-Uba Local Government Area of Borno State, where 42 schoolchildren were reportedly whisked away was seen as one of many incidents that had been reported in the region for over a decade, the attack, on the same day, on three schools in the Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State, where 46 schoolchildren and teachers were abducted was one unusual occurrence in the South West that could not be brushed aside.
The very disturbing brief social media footage of the gruesome beheading of an armless mathematics teacher, which I still want to discard as a “deepfake” for sanity’s sake, triggered widespread outrage. It unsettled even the hardest of Nigerians and led to protests across the nation.
As unnerving as the situation is, what I find also disturbing is that, even as the current administration of President Bola Tinubu is not resting on its oars to contain this hydra-headed monster that renews its havoc every election cycle, and Nigerians are painfully grappling with the terrifying implications of the situation on their daily lives, some top politicians who should know better seem to be exploiting the situation for egoistic reasons.
From the 2014 globally condemned abduction of 276 Chibok schoolgirls in Borno State, which heralded the defeat of former President Goodluck Jonathan in the 2015 presidential election, to the equally embarrassing 2018 kidnap of 110 Dapchi schoolgirls in Yobe State, under the late former President Muhammadu Buhari, and now the intensified attacks and abductions across new targets, a few months to the 2027 elections, it is clear that if these pre-election school abduction trend continues to be treated as a “we against them/citizens against government” face-off, the heartless non-state actors will be more empowered to hide their condemnable acts under seasonal political tension.
A June 4, 2026 PUNCH report said no fewer than 603 students and teachers had been kidnapped in seven mass abductions across schools in Nigeria between March 2024 and May 2026 under the current administration. This, according to the report, is despite a N145 billion Safe Schools Initiative, introduced after the 2014 Chibok girls’ abduction.
While some have blamed poor implementation of the initiative and the lack of government will for the lingering menace, others suggest that the highly organised nature of the different operations and the precision with which they are executed, reportedly helped by sophisticated weapons/surveillance tools, may connote a deeper, high-level conspiracy than envisaged.
Whichever way we choose to see this, I personally condemn a statement credited to a presidential candidate of a major opposition party, calling for protests on the scale of the 2014 #BringBackOurGirls movement. Instead of inadvertently instigating violence with self-serving outbursts, this is the time for a frontline politician to show Nigerians that his perceived patriotism goes well beyond personal ambition.
Right now, all the nation needs is cooperation with security agencies through prompt information on suspicious activities by citizens and behind-the-scenes suggestions on the way forward, even by the opposition candidates who have been promising to “end insecurity in one year.” If ending insecurity is about saving the lives of innocent Nigerians, and if, truly, they know what to do to bail the country out of this precarious situation, they don’t need to wait till they are elected.
Everyone, including the economy, suffers the consequences of a largely insecure nation. Regardless of the geopolitical zone or the scale, any widely publicised attack is an investment red flag, not only to Nigerians but also to the international community, especially when such recurs with attackers’ advancing audacity, almost daily.
This is the reason many of the top experts who reacted to one of my articles, titled “Who will give Nigeria the economy it deserves?”, unequivocally linked economic performance to the security of lives and property.
“Whoever can solve Nigeria’s insecurity problem is the person who can give Nigeria the economy it deserves,” a former managing director of a top-three Nigerian bank said in an e-mailed response to that article. I agree. But Nigerians, especially opposition figures, must also do more than whining.
The terrorists, if they are of Nigerian origin, did not fall from the sky. Let their friends expose their activities, let their families give them up, let their communities alert the authorities. When the resolve to find a lasting solution is absolute, the environment will be too hot, even for conspirators among the security operatives (if any) to undermine security operations.
Despite political interpretations, the news, on Saturday night, of the rescue of three relatives of the former Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, 72 hours after their abduction, without reports of ransom payment or negotiations, gives the hope that, with concerted efforts, devoid of politics, Nigeria’s security forces are up to the daunting task of crushing the ruthless terrorists’ empire and crippling their seeming thriving business.
For now, Nigerians must continue to be vigilant, even as we support the Federal and state governments in this fight against terrorism.
- Dr Kolapo is publisher of The Point and her column, Compass, runs on the back page of the Punch newspaper on Monday. The column appears on News Point Nigeria newspaper on Tuesday.