Uncategorized
WHEN TERRORISTS MOCK THE STATE
WHEN TERRORISTS MOCK THE STATE
By Sa’adiyyah Adebisi Hassan
A retired Major General is kidnapped and dies in captivity. Soldiers are ambushed and killed in Kaduna. Troops are attacked in Borno. Farmers are slaughtered in Zamfara. Villages continue to live under the shadow of fear. Families sell their property to pay ransom. Children grow up knowing the sound of gunfire better than the sound of peace. Yet the Nigerian state continues to behave as though these are isolated incidents instead of symptoms of a national security emergency.
At what point do we stop pretending?
At what point do we stop calling this “security challenges” and start admitting that armed criminal groups have become bold enough to openly challenge the authority of the Nigerian state?
Because that is exactly what is happening.
The death of Major General Abubakar Rabe in captivity should have shaken every office in Abuja. This was not an ordinary citizen hidden away in a remote village. This was a retired General, a man who spent years serving the nation. If criminals can abduct and hold a retired General until he dies in captivity, what message does that send to the ordinary teacher, farmer, trader, student, doctor or civil servant?
The message is simple and frightening: nobody feels untouchable anymore.
And that is why public frustration is boiling over.
The most dangerous thing happening in Nigeria is not just that terrorists and bandits are killing people. The most dangerous thing is that they increasingly appear unafraid of the consequences. Fear is supposed to flow in one direction, from criminals toward the state. In Nigeria, that equation appears dangerously reversed. Citizens fear criminals. Criminals seem less fearful of the state.
That should terrify every serious leader.
And then there is another question that many Nigerians are asking, even if officials do not like hearing it.
How can violent criminal networks continue to communicate, negotiate ransoms, circulate videos, move money and maintain support structures without creating intelligence opportunities?
✅Modern criminality leaves footprints.
✅Phones leave footprints.
✅SIM cards leave footprints.
✅Financial transactions leave footprints.
✅Internet activity leaves footprints.
✅Movement leaves footprints.
✅Communication leaves footprints.
✅Nothing simply appears from thin air.
Which is why many Nigerians become angry when they see stories of suspected bandits or criminal sympathizers flaunting wealth online, building audiences, distributing money or creating influence networks while communities they helped terrorize are burying their dead.
Every person is entitled to due process and evidence matters. But any serious country would investigate suspicious financial ecosystems around violent criminal networks aggressively and relentlessly.
Because terrorism is not sustained by bullets alone.
✅It is sustained by money.
✅It is sustained by logistics.
✅It is sustained by information.
✅It is sustained by collaborators.
✅It is sustained by people willing to normalize evil because there is money attached to it.
✅No terrorist organization survives in complete isolation.
✅Someone supplies information.
✅Someone moves money.
✅Someone facilitates communication.
✅Someone benefits.
That is why successful counterterrorism operations across the world do not focus only on gunmen in forests. They focus on the entire ecosystem that keeps the violence alive.
Nigeria’s problem is that it often appears to be chasing the symptoms while the disease continues growing.
A kidnapping gang should not only be viewed as armed men carrying rifles.
It should be viewed as a network.
A terror cell should not only be viewed as fighters.
It should be viewed as financiers, recruiters, propagandists, informants, transporters, suppliers and digital facilitators.
Destroy the network and the gunmen become isolated.
Ignore the network and new gunmen appear.
That is the lesson serious countries learned long ago.
The second lesson is even more important: intelligence wins wars before soldiers do.
A nation of over two hundred million people should not be relying primarily on reaction. It should be relying on anticipation.
The future of security is intelligence fusion.
✅Telecom intelligence.
✅Financial intelligence.
✅Cyber intelligence.
✅Human intelligence.
✅Border intelligence.
✅Geospatial intelligence.
All operating from one integrated national threat platform.
Not twenty agencies protecting twenty databases while criminals exploit the gaps.
The truth is that Nigeria does not have a shortage of brave soldiers. It does not have a shortage of brave police officers. It does not have a shortage of brave intelligence personnel.
What it appears to suffer from is a shortage of speed, integration, accountability and coordination.
And criminals thrive inside those gaps.
That is why every major attack must trigger a hard question: what information existed before the attack, who had it, what was done with it and why did prevention fail?
Those questions are not anti-government.
Those questions are pro-accountability.
Because the purpose of security is not explaining attacks after they happen.
The purpose of security is preventing them from happening in the first place.
The greatest tragedy in all of this is that Nigerians are gradually becoming emotionally exhausted. Every day brings another headline. Another abduction. Another ambush. Another funeral. Another community attacked. Another family destroyed.
No country should normalize that.
No society should accept that.
No government should become comfortable with that.
The death of Major General Abubakar Rabe, the killing of soldiers, the slaughter of farmers and the endless stream of kidnappings are not separate stories. They are warnings. Warnings that criminals are testing the limits of state authority every single day.
The question now is whether the state intends to reclaim that authority decisively, intelligently and relentlessly or continue issuing statements while citizens continue counting the dead.
Because a nation is not judged by the speeches of its leaders.
It is judged by whether its people can live without fear.
And right now, too many Nigerians are afraid.
WHEN TERRORISTS MOCK THE STATE
Troops Arrest Three Suspected Kidnappers in Plateau Raid
By Zagazola Makama
Troops of Sector 1, Operation ENDURING PEACE (OPEP), have arrested three suspected kidnappers during a raid on a criminal hideout at Mista-Ali in Bassa Local Government Area of Plateau State.
Credible security sources told Zagazola Makama that the operation was conducted at about 5:30 p.m. on Aug. 14, following intelligence reports on the activities of suspected kidnappers operating in the area.
The troops raided the identified hideout and arrested three suspects, identified as Umar Aliyu, 25; Abdulrahman Adam, 25; and Bello Isa, 21.
Two other suspects reportedly escaped during the operation.
However, one of the fleeing suspects attacked and stabbed a soldier, identified as CPL Muhammad Adam, with a knife while attempting to escape.
The injured personnel was immediately evacuated to the General Hospital, Mista-Ali, where he was admitted for medical attention.
A search of the houses belonging to the arrested suspects was subsequently conducted, but no incriminating items were recovered.
The three suspects remain in military custody and are assisting ongoing investigations into their activities and possible links to kidnapping operations in the area.
The development highlights the continued efforts by security forces to dismantle criminal networks and prevent kidnappers from establishing hideouts in communities across Plateau State.
Zagazola Makama reports that security agencies have continued to intensify intelligence-led operations in vulnerable communities as part of efforts to protect residents and maintain peace in the state.
Troops Arrest Three Suspected Kidnappers in Plateau Raid
Uncategorized
ECOWAS, Africa Agenda Network Deepen Partnership to Showcase Regional Bloc’s 50-Year Legacy
ECOWAS, Africa Agenda Network Deepen Partnership to Showcase Regional Bloc’s 50-Year Legacy
By: Michael Mike
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has reaffirmed its commitment to strengthening collaboration with the Africa Agenda Network (AAN) as part of efforts to document, promote and deepen public understanding of the regional bloc’s five decades of achievements and contributions to West African integration.
The renewed commitment was made on Tuesday when the President of the ECOWAS Commission, Dr. Omar Alieu Touray, received the Chief Executive Officer of the Africa Agenda Network, Ms. Muna Jallow, during a working visit to the Commission’s headquarters in Abuja.
The meeting focused on the progress of the Africa Agenda Network–ECOWAS Strategic Partnership Initiative, a three-phase programme designed to commemorate ECOWAS’ 50th anniversary while strengthening citizens’ appreciation of the organisation’s role in advancing regional cooperation.
Briefing the Commission President, Jallow said the initiative’s first phase had been successfully implemented through the ECOWAS@50 Trade, Investment and Exhibition Forum held in Lagos, Nigeria.
She disclosed that attention has now shifted to the second phase—the production of a commemorative publication documenting the history of ECOWAS over the past 50 years, highlighting its major milestones, achievements and contributions to regional integration.
According to her, the final phase of the initiative will see the production of a high-quality documentary series that will tell the ECOWAS story through the voices and experiences of citizens from across the organisation’s member states.
Responding, Touray welcomed the initiative and reaffirmed the ECOWAS Commission’s commitment to sustaining and expanding its partnership with the Africa Agenda Network.
He said the collaboration would play a vital role in increasing public awareness of ECOWAS, preserving its institutional history and projecting the organisation’s achievements and impact across West Africa and the international community.
The partnership comes as ECOWAS marks 50 years since its establishment in 1975, a period during which the regional body has played leading roles in promoting economic integration, facilitating free movement across member states, supporting democratic governance and peacekeeping efforts, and advancing regional development initiatives despite persistent political and security challenges.
The commemorative publication and documentary are expected to serve as enduring records of the bloc’s evolution while helping a new generation of West Africans better understand the relevance of regional integration to the future of the sub-region.
ECOWAS, Africa Agenda Network Deepen Partnership to Showcase Regional Bloc’s 50-Year Legacy
Netherlands Donates Equipment to Boost Nigeria Immigration’s Hostmanship Programme
By: Michael Mike
The Kingdom of the Netherlands has donated specialised equipment to the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) to strengthen its Hostmanship Unit, deepening more than two decades of bilateral cooperation aimed at improving migration management and customer service delivery.
The equipment was presented by the Repatriation and Departure Service (R&DS) of the Dutch Ministry of Justice and Security during a ceremony at the NIS Headquarters in Abuja on Monday.
Receiving the donation, the Comptroller-General of Immigration, Kemi Nandap, described the gesture as a significant milestone in the long-standing partnership between the Nigeria Immigration Service and the Netherlands, noting that it would bolster institutional professionalism and improve service delivery.
Nandap said the equipment represents a strategic investment in institutional excellence and would enhance the Hostmanship Unit’s training capacity and operational efficiency.
She explained that the initiative is designed to entrench the philosophy of hostmanship across the Service, encouraging immigration officers to ensure that members of the public are treated with courtesy, empathy and professionalism at every point of contact.
“The equipment will further strengthen our capacity to institutionalise the Hostmanship philosophy, where every officer is inspired to make people feel welcomed, respected and valued,” she said.
The Chargé d’Affaires of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Abuja, Mr. Ronald Sonnemans, described the collaboration with the Nigeria Immigration Service as a model of sustained international partnership.
He reaffirmed the Dutch government’s commitment to supporting initiatives that enhance migration management, institutional capacity and public service delivery in Nigeria.
The Nigeria Immigration Service disclosed that the partnership has already produced tangible results, including the training of hundreds of immigration officers, the establishment of a dedicated Hostmanship Unit and sustained capacity-building programmes under the European Union-funded Capacity Building and Relationship Management (CBR) Project.
According to the Service, the latest donation underscores the commitment of both countries to strengthening migration governance through innovation, knowledge sharing and institutional reforms that enhance public confidence in immigration services.
The Service expressed appreciation to the Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Repatriation and Departure Service for their continued support, pledging to ensure the donated equipment is effectively utilised in advancing ongoing reforms.
The Nigeria Immigration Service has in recent years intensified reforms aimed at modernising border management, improving service delivery and enhancing the professionalism of its personnel. A key component of these reforms is the Hostmanship programme, a customer service philosophy developed in Sweden that focuses on creating positive service experiences by treating every individual with respect, courtesy and empathy.
The Netherlands has remained one of Nigeria’s key international partners in migration governance, supporting capacity-building initiatives through bilateral cooperation and European Union-funded programmes. The collaboration has focused on improving migration management, combating irregular migration, strengthening institutional capacity and promoting international best practices in public service delivery.
The latest donation is expected to further consolidate these reforms as the Nigeria Immigration Service seeks to build a more citizen-focused and globally competitive immigration system.
Netherlands Donates Equipment to Boost Nigeria Immigration’s Hostmanship Programme
Suspected Fulani Bandits Kill 19-Year-Old, Injure Two in Plateau Attack
Troops Arrest Three Suspected Kidnappers in Plateau Raid
Zagazola Media Hails Army for Reinstating Zamfara Cadet Cleared of Indigene Certificate Allegation
Roger Federer’s Shock as DNA Results Reveal Myla and Charlene Are Not His Biological Children
THE PLIGHT OF FARIDA
FAILED COUP IN BURKINA FASO: HOW TRAORÉ NARROWLY ESCAPED ASSASSINATION PLOT AMID FOREIGN INTERFERENCE CLAIMS
-
News2 years agoRoger Federer’s Shock as DNA Results Reveal Myla and Charlene Are Not His Biological Children
-
Opinions4 years ago
THE PLIGHT OF FARIDA
-
News1 year agoFAILED COUP IN BURKINA FASO: HOW TRAORÉ NARROWLY ESCAPED ASSASSINATION PLOT AMID FOREIGN INTERFERENCE CLAIMS
-
News2 years agoEYN: Rev. Billi, Distortion of History, and The Living Tamarind Tree
-
Opinions5 years agoPOLICE CHARGE ROOMS, A MINTING PRESS
-
ACADEMICS2 years agoA History of Biu” (2015) and The Lingering Bura-Pabir Question (1)
-
Columns2 years agoArmy University Biu: There is certain interest, but certainly not from Borno.
-
Politics1 year ago2027: Why Hon. Midala Balami Must Go, as Youths in Hawul and Asikira/Uba Federal Constituency Reject ₦500,000 as Sallah Gift
