November 23, (THEWILL) — Governor Nasir Idris of Kebbi State at the weekend publicly disclosed a worrisome pattern about insecurity in the country that many Nigerians have suspected over the years and continue to discuss on social media, at meetings and homes, a troubling pattern that shows how compromised those entrusted with the security of lives and property have become. “As a responsive government, when we received intelligence on a possible attack, we summoned a security meeting.
The security agencies assured us that all was well and that personnel would be mobilised to the school. The military was deployed, but they later withdrew by 3a.m and by 3.45am, the incident happened,” Idris declared before the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress NLC, Joe Ajaero and his entourage who paid him a sympathy visit over the November 17, 2025 abduction of 25 students of Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School, Maga, by terrorists.
“Who authorised the military to withdraw? How did security personnel pull out at such a critical time? That is our concern. We have asked the military to investigate and identify who gave that order,” lamented Governor Idris.
The governor, like most Nigerians, has cause to be troubled. Between 3 am and 3.45 am is just 45 minutes. The terrorists were probably lurking around before the withdrawal of the military personnel. The same pattern occurred in the abduction of 215 pupils and 12 teachers at St. Mary’s Catholic School, Papiri, Agwara Local Government Area of Niger State, on Friday, November 21, 2025. The terrorists struck at 3a.m.
Niger State Governor Mohammed Bago blamed the school authority for ignoring security reports and a warning to shut down the school before the terrorists struck. The chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Niger State chapter, Most Rev Bulus Yohanna on Saturday denied that the school received any warning from the government or security agencies.
Speaking through his media aide, Daniel Atori, the Bishop also stated that the management of St Mary Private Primary and Secondary schools, as well as the National Association of Private Schools, did not receive any prior government circular instructing the closure of secondary schools in the area before the attack.
He said, “Contrary to rumours, no circular or warning was received from the government or security agencies. This narrative appears to be an afterthought aimed at shifting blame. In 2022, when security concerns arose, the school shut down immediately. We have always complied with security advisories, whether formal or informal.
‘The school is owned by the Catholic Diocese, not any individual. No Reverend Sisters travelled to Abuja, as alleged. Anyone making such claims should provide proof or retract the statements. Our Education Secretary confirmed he received no circulars, written or verbal, and the National Association of Private Schools also received none.’”
“The total number of victims abducted from St Mary’s Catholic Primary and Secondary Schools, Papiri, in Agwara Local Government Area is now 303 students and 12 teachers,” Atori quoted the Bishop as saying.
However, Nigerians are eagerly awaiting the response from the military authorities to Governor Idris’ query. Once again, who authorised the military to withdraw?
Until the answer is provided, people may well decide that a similar pattern of compromise played out in the manner Brigadier-General Musa Uba and three of his men were ambushed, captured and killed by the Islamic State of West African Province, ISWAP, terrorists and fear for the worse.
Indeed, for the whole of last week, the terrorists were on a rampage, storming schools, churches, roads and farms. Apart from the Maga and Catholic School abductions, 38 worshippers were abducted from a Church in Eruku Kwara State and eight members of a Civilian Task Force were killed by Islamist terrorists, who also abducted three others in Gwoza area of Borno State.
Meanwhile, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume has blamed the renewed wave of terror-related attacks on the threat by President Donald Trump of the United States to attack enclaves of terrorists in Nigeria and eliminate them if the government fails to act.
“Recent pronouncements from the United States have inadvertently emboldened opportunistic violent groups seeking to exploit international narratives and make bold statements by attacking soft targets,” Akume said recently. Renowned security expert and Managing Director of Beacon Securities Limited, Dr. Kabiru Adamu described the SFG’s statement as out of place.
“It beats me honestly how a government official of that ranking would think that it is an external statement that is triggering the sustained attacks,” he told THEWILL in an interview on Friday, adding that “with regards to whether I think President Trump’s statement may have triggered the renewed wave of attacks, I believe Nigeria is under siege, from both internal and external sources. Whether Trump’s statement is driving those putting Nigeria under siege to continue or not is unclear.”
PRESIDENT TRUMP’S INFLUENCE ON INSECURITY
Dr. Adamu argued that the pattern and actors of insecurity have remained the same for over a decade and so, there was no need for deflection.
“If you look at the threat actors, they are not new. It is the same threat actors that have been killing our people for almost 10 years now. Are they using new weapons? No. Are they acting from one location to another? No. I think there are vulnerabilities that exist locally within our security architecture that the delegation that travelled to the US should have stayed to block. I hope you know that as we speak there is a Nigerian delegation to the United States of America on this issue?
“Think about it, the leader of that delegation is the coordinator of National Security. He did not fix his home, he went outside. A lot of people think that delegation should have been led by the Minister of External Affairs because it is a diplomatic fact, not a security fact and it should have been handled by a diplomat. So, the NSA left and we are where we are. Nobody is even calling the Police. In most of these occurrences, it is the responsibility of the police to stop them.
“It shows you how defective our national security plan is. Nobody is mentioning those who have responsibility for internal security. All we hear is military, military and military. In a real sense, the military is only there to support the police. So, why don’t we hold to account the particular agency that has that responsibility and if it is failing us. We need to decentralise policing. Let us do it and if we need to change the leadership of the police, let us do it. My point is that we are leaving the key issue and then we are beating about the bush.”
Alarmed at the intrigue surrounding the Maga school abduction in Kebbi State, ex-Director-General of State Security Services, SSS, Mr Mike Ejiofor, said at the weekend that those involved must be fished out and punished to serve as a deterrent.
“It is quite disturbing that those who go to school to study are now ending in the forest with terrorists, “ he said and wondered what has become of the Safe School Initiative, a collaborative effort between the government and UNICEF which was adopted between them after the scandalous kidnap of Chibok girls in April 2014.
“After what the Kebbi State governor said, you can see how providing intelligence is one thing and acting on it is quite another. We need more collaboration among the security agencies,” Ejiofor said. Executive Director of Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre, RULAAC, Okechukwu Nwaguma, assessed the situation in another way.
He told THEWILL in a note on Saturday morning: “The first duty of any government anywhere in the world is painfully simple: To protect lives and secure territory. Everything else, roads, reforms, revenue, rhetoric comes after. A government that cannot protect its citizens has failed at a fundamental level. And in today’s Nigeria, citizens are no longer asking for prosperity or for progress. They are begging, quite literally, for safety, for the right to go to school, to worship and to live.” Ambassador Abayomi Nurain Mumuni, a certified counter-terrorism and anti-terrorism practitioner, at the weekend called for a comprehensive national response that goes beyond ground attack.
“Terrorism in today’s world is asymmetric. It requires more than sending ground troops after non-state actors. African leaders, especially in Nigeria, must shift focus from militarised responses to innovative, intelligence-driven counter-terrorism strategies,” he said, in a statement made available to journalists at the weekend. He maintained that no region is immune from the growing threat of extremist violence, given the way the situation is being handled. The way the situation is being handled, according to Dr Adamu, is counterproductive.
He said, “On one hand, you have the Federal Government saying it is the statement by Trump that is triggering the attack and on the other hand, you have the delegation going to the USA to beg Trump. So, it shows the absence of synergy, the whole government approach about the issues and why they are not actualising it. It is worrisome.”
DELEGATION TO THE USA
After a meeting with the Nigerian delegation led by National Security Adviser, Malam Nuhu Ribadu, the United States Defence Secretary, Pete Hegseth, wrote on the outcome of the meeting on his X handle at the weekend.
He said, “Yesterday (Thursday), I met with Nigeria’s National Security Advisor and his team to discuss the horrific violence against Christians in their country. Under @POTUS leadership, DOW is working aggressively with Nigeria to end the persecution of Christians by jihadist terrorists.”
Shortly thereafter, Pentagon spokesman, Sean Parnell said Hegseth appealed to Nigeria to “take both urgent and enduring action to stop violence against Christians and to degrade terrorists that threaten the United States.” The delegation has also met with US Congressman Riley Moore. But Dr. Adamu expressed doubts about the real outcome of the meetings.
“Honestly, I don’t even know what the delegation went there to do because the United States was very clear on its act. It said there was a Christian genocide and it asked the Nigerian government to stop it. But on the day the delegation left, if you count the day around November 17 and today in the 21st, there is no single day that there has not been one mass abduction incident and in most instances affecting identities that could easily be Christian, apart from the one in Kebbi State. So, it beats me what the delegation is going to tell the US. Are they just going to get on their knees and beg the Americans to say there is no Christian genocide in the way the Americans framed it, when the realities are that there are incidents happening on a daily basis. So, the first thing is that there is a mismatch between what the government is doing and what is happening.”
All the same, Dr Adamu however maintained that from experience, the claim about ‘Christian genocide’ falls flat on the face of available evidence. According to him, evidence from his company’s database on insecurity in the past 10 years in Nigeria tallies with the opposite view.
He said the data shows that Muslims have been killed more than Christians. The only difference is that the group that are doing the killings are purportedly Muslims.
“But we also challenge anyone who doubts our finding that there are actually 80 threat actors in Nigeria. So, anyone who thinks it is only the terrorist groups in the North-East, for example, should recall that there are ethnic militias almost everywhere in the country, there are secessionist groups, cult groups and they are carrying out killings as well. Depending on the location, those they kill could be Christians or Muslims. I agree that the prominent ones are the terrorist ones and they are jihadists, no doubt. They professed to be Muslims, nobody is going to argue that, but we also have to know that these are only a fraction of those causing insecurity in the country. We need more evidence based on our analyses. The Nigerian security challenge is more complex.”
THE WAY FORWARD
Ambassador Mumuni urged policymakers to address the political, economic and social roots of terrorism and to draw a line between counter-terrorism, which is about combatting active threats and anti-terrorism, which deals with preventing future attacks.
He also called for capacity building, intelligence sharing and regional cooperation, alongside community engagement to curb the recruitment of vulnerable youth into extremist groups.
“If we continue with outdated tactics, we risk deepening the cycle of violence. The way forward is a proactive and inclusive approach rooted in local realities and global best practices.”
For Dr. Adamu, the way forward is to call a spade a spade. “Let the President convene a National Security Council meeting. But before doing so, he should ask the National Security Adviser, Minister of Defence, Minister for Police Affairs and the Minister of Interior to put together a plan that has roles and responsibilities for all the 52 military departments and agencies that are handling security and then have in very clear terms deliverables for each of them that would be measured in periods of not less than two or three weeks so that the National Security Council would look at that plan and approve it. That plan is what the government should then take to the Americans and say this is what we plan to do, this is where we are going.
“The second thing is to bring the state governors into the security arrangements. Almost all the threat actors exist within the space where the governors have security mandates. So, we need to bring them in and hold them accountable. Where the governors fail to act, the President should not be shy to declare a state of emergency in that state.
“Zamfara State, for example, has become the epicentre of violence,l where gold is being mined. I cannot understand why President Tinubu has not taken action on what is going on there.”
Ejiofor called for the involvement of vigilantes because in “many cases the areas where these attacks happen are in the outskirts of the cities.”
Nwaguma listed five steps the government must take to stem the tide of violence and restore order. The President, he said, must take direct, public, hands-on leadership of national security; reorganise the security architecture based on competence, not patronage; deploy technology and rapid response capacity to vulnerable regions; hold security chiefs accountable and declare a national emergency on mass abductions.
Dr. Adamu predicted that if the government failed to “rein in these monsters, I doubt if 2027 would even be realistic, honestly. So, the earlier the political elite agree to rein in these monsters the better for all of us.”
Amos Esele is the Editor of THEWILL Newspaper. He has over two decades of experience on the job.
