News

Plateau steps back from the brink as Nigerian Armed Forces coordinated response halts escalation

Published

7 months ago

March 2, 2026

Ochuwa Ibrahim

Plateau steps back from the brink as Nigerian Armed Forces coordinated response halts escalation

By: Zagazola Makama

After days of tension, anxiety and painful losses, a cautious calm is returning to parts of Plateau State after a narrowly averted escalation.

The hostilities which recently escalated along the Barkin Ladi-Riyom–Jos corridor have significantly reduced in the past few days, averting what many feared could spiral into a broader ethno-religious crisis.

Multiple sources attribute the de-escalation to proactive and coordinated interventions of the Federal Government, which directed its armed forces, alongside the Nigeria Police Force and the Department of State Services (DSS), to ensure that the situation was brought under control.

The synergy prevented Plateau from tipping into a full-blown crisis with possible regional contagion across other Northern states.

For decades, this axis has carried the weight of unresolved grievances land-use disputes, indigene-settler narratives, youth unemployment, and political rivalry. Each new killing risks reopening old wounds, and each reprisal threatens to widen the circle of suspicion.

The recent flare-ups, however, occurred within Plateau State, particularly in Barkin Ladi and Riyom, with anxiety spilling toward Jos North and Jos South. Yet, in the past few days, the feared urban ignition has not materialized.
Security presence has been reinforced along flashpoints, while high-level engagements with all warring communities have reportedly led to a cooling of ultimatums and counter-ultimatums that had earlier hardened positions.

Political, community and religious leaders in Jos, as well as elder statesmen in other parts of the country, have intensified peace engagements, urging restraint and rejecting inflammatory rhetoric capable of transforming localized disputes into full-scale ethno-religious confrontation.

Yet what unfolded in recent weeks does not fit the legal or factual threshold of genocide. Rather, it followed a tragic but familiar retaliatory pattern one group attacks, the other responds, and the cycle deepens unless decisively interrupted.

This time, it was interrupted. Security deployments were reinforced. Intelligence coordination improved. Youth leaders were engaged. Religious figures amplified calls for restraint. Political actors, mindful of the state’s fragile equilibrium, moved to cool tempers rather than inflame them, while those who inflamed the situation were cautioned.

But beyond the immediate violence, another battle was playing out the battle of narratives.

Nigeria remains vulnerable to destabilization efforts by internal conflict entrepreneurs and, potentially, external actors who exploit local grievances for strategic advantage, just as what is currently playing out in Plateau and Benue. External security elements, sometimes operating under the guise of NGOs, are also fueling resentment and making inflammatory statements that could further ignite chaos in the country.

It has been noted that these elements make exaggerated claims, use inflammatory framing, and deploy emotionally charged labels that covertly transform localized disputes into perceived existential wars.

A recurring theme among peace advocates is the danger of waiting for external rescue or framing domestic challenges as externally solvable crises. Nigerian politicians have also failed to fully discharge their responsibilities by investigating the crises and implementing concrete policies and programs that would further prevent recurrence.

Top government officials often hesitate to speak against prevailing narratives. We even saw that those who opposed certain framings, like Rabiu Kwankwaso, were tagged as supporters of the persecution of Christians.

The Nigerian media has largely refused to give the Plateau crisis balanced and sustained attention. Coverage has often focused in one direction, hardly depicting the perspectives of both sides of the conflict. Few media outlets have carried out fact-based, thorough research to unravel the real causes of the crisis in Plateau with a view to fostering peace and development in the state.

History offers sobering lessons. The insurgency of Boko Haram or the IPOB Biafra agitation began with local grievances that metastasized into protracted conflicts, partly sustained by narratives of persecution and apocalyptic struggle. Bandit networks similarly capitalized on identity-based fear, at times spreading claims of collective extinction to recruit and radicalize Fulani youths into their violent campaigns.

In parts of the Sahel, groups such as Jama’at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM) have demonstrated how porous borders and grievance politics can intersect, expanding insecurity beyond its point of origin. This is what is already playing out — Nigerian bandits inviting other terrorist groups from Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso to operate in Nigeria’s Kwara, Niger, Sokoto and Kebbi corridors.

Today, Plateau was at risk of becoming an ignition point of a wider Nigerian Muslim–Christian crisis, a “soft ground” where localized clashes could be amplified into national rupture. Had urban centers been drawn in, especially after the killing of five Plateau North indigenes, the ripple effects might have extended far beyond the state’s borders.

Some will tell you that Christians are being targeted by jihadists with the aim of eliminating every Christian household in Nigeria. But how could that narrative stand when a significant percentage of households in Northern Nigeria are bound by intermarriages between Muslims and Christians? There are families where Muslims and pastors coexist within the same lineage.

Those who lived through the Boko Haram conflict know that such sweeping narratives were deeply misleading. Yet religion remains the easiest weapon for those who seek chaos.

Therefore, the suggestion that any side faces inevitable annihilation is both historically inaccurate and operationally dangerous. Such framing fuels fear, and fear fuels mobilization. Both Fulani communities and local groups in Plateau have, at different times, amplified such narratives.

Nigeria’s problems are largely local in origin. And sustainable solutions must be local. Government must take ownership of the entire situation. Outsiders do not carry our wounds, and they cannot heal them for us. History shows that external actors often pursue their own interests, not necessarily the interests of the affected country.

The darker scenario one in which reprisals escalate, youth radicalize, security forces are perceived as partisan, and politicians exploit division is not hypothetical. It is a pattern Nigeria has seen before. What prevented that pattern from fully unfolding in Plateau was early containment.

Troops of Operation Safe Haven maintained forward presence in flashpoints. Police units increased patrols. DSS monitoring curtailed incendiary mobilization. Traditional rulers convened urgent meetings. Interfaith leaders urged restraint from pulpits and podiums.

Collectively, these actions slowed the spiral.
However, calm does not mean closure. The structural drivers land administration ambiguities, grazing corridor disputes, unemployment, and political instrumentalization of identity. remain unresolved. Without deliberate reform, cycles can re-emerge.

Rejecting violence therefore requires rejecting simplistic narratives. There is no moral victory in framing complex disputes as civilizational wars. There is no strategic gain in exaggerating communal fear. And there is no national future in allowing grievance merchants to profit from division whether they are pastors, imams, community leaders or youth leaders.

Nigeria’s common enemies are those who weaponize difference for power insurgent groups, bandit networks, militias, separatist agitators, or self-serving politicians.

For now, Plateau has stepped back from the brink. The question that remains is whether Nigeria, as a whole, will use this moment not merely to breathe, but to reflect, reform and recommit to coexistence.

Because in the end, no external power will determine Nigeria’s stability.

Plateau steps back from the brink as Nigerian Armed Forces coordinated response halts escalation

Military

Army committee inspects sites for new 237 Tank Battalion in Bauchi

Published

25 minutes ago

September 18, 2026

Ochuwa Ibrahim

Army committee inspects sites for new 237 Tank Battalion in Bauchi

By Zagazola Makama

A high-level military committee has inspected proposed locations for the establishment of the newly formed 237 Tank Battalion in Tafawa Balewa Local Government Area of Bauchi State.

The inspection was conducted on Sept. 17, 2026, by a committee led by the Commander, 33 Artillery Brigade, Brig.-Gen. S.S. Shehu.

The delegation included the Bauchi State Commissioner for Lands, the Chief Security Adviser to the Bauchi State Government and the Chairman of Tafawa Balewa Local Government Area, among other officials.

On arrival at the headquarters of Sector 8, Sub-Sector 82, Operation ENDURING PEACE, in Tafawa Balewa, the delegation was received by the Sub-Sector Commander, Maj. F. Ogunleke.

Ogunleke subsequently led the committee on an inspection of selected temporary facilities being considered to accommodate the battalion.

Among the facilities inspected were the ATBU Annex and the Government Girls Secondary School, Tafawa Balewa.

The committee also assessed two locations being considered for the permanent establishment of the battalion one in Tafawa Balewa and another in Murno, Boto District of the local government area.

The inspection ended at about 1:30 p.m., after which the committee proceeded to Toro for further engagements as part of the ongoing process for establishing the battalion.

The development is part of efforts to identify suitable facilities and locations for the operational deployment and long-term accommodation of the newly established military formation.

Army committee inspects sites for new 237 Tank Battalion in Bauchi

News

DSS re-arraigns five suspected Ansaru members over Oyo school kidnapping

Published

28 minutes ago

September 18, 2026

Ochuwa Ibrahim

DSS re-arraigns five suspected Ansaru members over Oyo school kidnapping

By Zagazola Makama

The Department of State Services (DSS) has re-arraigned five men accused of involvement in the May 15 kidnapping of pupils and teachers in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State, as well as the subsequent killing of two of the victims.

The defendants were brought before the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on a seven-count charge bordering on their alleged involvement in the activities of Jama’atu Ansarul Muslimina Fi Biladis Sudan, commonly known as Ansaru.

The five suspects pleaded not guilty to all seven counts when the charges were read to them.

Following their pleas, the Director of Public Prosecutions of the Federation, Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN, who led the DSS legal team, urged the court to fix an early date for the commencement of trial in accordance with the provisions of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015.

Oyedepo also asked the court to protect the identities of prosecution witnesses expected to testify during the trial.

He specifically requested that the names of the witnesses be shielded and that they be allowed to give evidence while wearing masks, citing the need to safeguard them from possible threats.

The defence counsel, Bala Dakum, did not object to the applications.

Justice Salim Ibrahim subsequently granted the requests of the prosecution and ordered that the witnesses’ identities be protected in accordance with the court’s directives.

The judge adjourned the case until Oct. 18, 2026, for further proceedings.

He also ordered that the five defendants remain in the custody of the DSS pending the continuation of the case.

The prosecution alleges that the suspects were connected to the kidnapping operation in Oriire, during which pupils and teachers were abducted, with two of the victims later killed.

The case is expected to provide further details of the alleged roles of the defendants and their links, if established in court, to the Ansaru terrorist network.

DSS re-arraigns five suspected Ansaru members over Oyo school kidnapping

News

SMEDAN, Korea, UNDP Break Ground on $12m Abuja Entrepreneurship Centre

Published

10 hours ago

September 17, 2026

Ochuwa Ibrahim

SMEDAN, Korea, UNDP Break Ground on $12m Abuja Entrepreneurship Centre

By: Michael Mike

The Federal Government has unveiled a new US$12 million entrepreneurship and innovation centre in Abuja as part of efforts to strengthen the pipeline from skills development and job creation to enterprise growth, innovation and investment for young Nigerians.

The Abuja Centre for Entrepreneurship (ACE), funded by the Republic of Korea through the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), is being developed by the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The groundbreaking ceremony was held on Thursday at SMEDAN’s Idu Industrial Development Centre in Abuja, marking the transition of the project from planning and preparation to physical construction.

Speaking at the ceremony on behalf of Vice President Kashim Shettima, the Deputy Chief of Staff to the President, Senator Ibrahim Hassan Hadejia, said the Centre should be viewed not merely as a building but as part of a wider national ecosystem connecting skills, employment, entrepreneurship, innovation and enterprise growth.

He said the objective of government interventions should go beyond training Nigerians to creating pathways through which skills translate into jobs, jobs into enterprises and enterprises into broader economic growth.

“The objective cannot simply be to train more people. We must create pathways through which skills lead to jobs, jobs lead to enterprise, and enterprise drives economic growth,” Hadejia said.

He said ACE was coming at a critical time, noting that Nigeria’s youthful population represented a major economic asset if matched with the skills, infrastructure, finance, opportunities and markets required for productive participation in the economy.

According to him, the Centre has the potential to serve entrepreneurs and MSMEs across the Federal Capital Territory and the wider Northern region by connecting them with universities, financial institutions, technology companies, incubators, development partners and the private sector.

Hadejia also linked ACE to other government-backed interventions, including the Skills and Industry Alignment Roundtables, the Nigeria Jubilee Fellows Programme (NJFP), Expanded MSME Clinics and the Investment in Digital and Creative Enterprises (iDICE) initiative.

He said the programmes addressed different components of the same national challenge of building a workforce and enterprise ecosystem capable of supporting sustainable economic growth.

“Skills. Jobs. Enterprise. Innovation. Growth. And this is where the Abuja Centre for Entrepreneurship fits,” he said.

The Deputy Chief of Staff urged the project partners to begin building the pipeline of entrepreneurs and businesses that would occupy the facility even before construction is completed.

“By the time this facility is completed, we should not be starting from zero. We should already have entrepreneurs ready for incubation, businesses ready to scale, institutional partners ready to collaborate and pathways to finance and markets ready to support viable enterprises,” he said.

He added that the success of ACE should ultimately be measured by the entrepreneurs emerging from the facility, businesses expanding, innovations reaching the market, jobs created and opportunities opened to young Nigerians, women, persons with disabilities and other underserved groups.

Earlier, SMEDAN Director-General and Chief Executive Officer, Charles Odii, said the project was guided by the agency’s GROW Nigerian Strategy, which places skills development, access to finance and markets, and productive infrastructure at the centre of enterprise development.

“We have made skills development, access to finance and markets, and productive infrastructure central to fulfilling our mandate to build the enterprises that will carry this economy forward,” Odii said.

He said ACE would provide entrepreneurs with access to workspaces and specialist facilities that many would struggle to provide independently, adding that the partnership with KOICA and UNDP would strengthen SMEDAN’s capacity to deliver enterprise support at scale.

UNDP Resident Representative in Nigeria, Elsie Attafuah, said the Centre would help translate Nigeria’s demographic potential into sustainable businesses and decent jobs.

Attafuah noted that more than 75 million Nigerians are aged between 15 and 35, but said young people and MSMEs continue to face barriers including limited access to finance, digital infrastructure, business support and appropriate innovation spaces.

She said UNDP’s involvement in ACE was about more than supporting a physical facility, but about working with Nigerian institutions to create an environment where people could turn their capabilities and ideas into productive opportunities.

She recalled that UNDP had in 2024 supported the solarisation of SMEDAN’s Common Facility Centre at Idu through a 120 KVA solar-powered mini-grid, describing it as a practical investment in productive infrastructure.

Country Director of KOICA Nigeria, Kim Eunsub, said the project represented a further investment in Nigeria’s innovation, entrepreneurship and MSME ecosystem and reflected Korea’s commitment to science, technology and innovation-led development.

“The Abuja Centre for Entrepreneurship is a concrete expression of the strong and growing partnership between Korea and Nigeria,” Eunsub said.

He said KOICA hoped the Centre would provide an environment where the creativity and entrepreneurial potential of young Nigerians could be transformed into innovation, businesses and employment opportunities.

ACE is expected to support 500 prospective young Nigerian entrepreneurs and 400 start-ups in sectors including FinTech, EdTech, HealthTech and AgriTech, as well as MSMEs from Abuja and surrounding cities, with wider indirect benefits across Nigeria.

The facility will include time-share offices, hot-desking areas, meeting rooms, training facilities and incubation spaces.

Its design incorporates accessibility for persons with disabilities and older persons, alongside gender-responsive features, including provision for crèche facilities.

The building will also incorporate green design principles, including renewable energy, low embodied-carbon technologies and locally sourced bio-renewable materials.

Beyond the physical infrastructure, the partners plan to develop an entrepreneurship ecosystem around ACE involving incubators, universities, financial institutions, private-sector organisations and entrepreneur networks.

A planned ACE Incubation Pipeline will enable partner incubators and universities to run affiliated programmes during construction and contribute to the Centre’s first intake when it becomes operational.

The Centre is also expected to connect entrepreneurs with government and private-sector institutions working in areas such as business registration, digital innovation, skills development, investment, export promotion, finance and enterprise support.

The project brings together SMEDAN’s institutional mandate and reach within Nigeria’s MSME ecosystem, KOICA’s development cooperation and investment capacity, and UNDP’s technical and development implementation expertise.

Hadejia said the broader Nigeria-UNDP partnership had already demonstrated the value of creating practical pathways for young Nigerians into the world of work through programmes such as NJFP, while cooperation was also expanding into innovation and digital capability.

He cited the planned national rollout of University Innovation Pods as another effort to strengthen infrastructure for innovation and digital skills.

He said ACE would provide an additional link by creating a platform where skills, ideas and innovation could be converted into viable enterprises.

The project contributes to Sustainable Development Goals 4, 8, 9 and 17 and supports Nigeria’s MSME and start-up policy frameworks as well as the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework 2023–2027.

The groundbreaking ceremony brought together senior government officials, development partners, private-sector representatives, financial institutions, innovation hubs, universities, entrepreneurs, and representatives of women and persons with disabilities.

With construction now commencing, SMEDAN, KOICA and UNDP are expected to focus on developing the partnerships, programmes and entrepreneur pipeline required to ensure that the Centre becomes operational as an active platform for innovation, enterprise development, investment and job creation.

SMEDAN, Korea, UNDP Break Ground on $12m Abuja Entrepreneurship Centre