By Abbas Nazil
A coalition of Nigerian leaders has raised alarm over the worsening national security crisis, warning that the country is experiencing warlike levels of killings despite being officially at peace.
In a joint statement, the leaders cited Amnesty International figures showing that at least 10,217 Nigerians were killed in violent attacks within two years.
The statement was signed by 19 Nigerian leaders, including former ministers, journalists, lawyers, and professionals drawn from the six geopolitical zones of the country.
NatureNews notes that power-packed coalition includes at least four former Ministers – Osita Chidoka, Mohammed Abdullahi, Frank Nweke Jnr, and Jamila Bio Ibrahim – as well as respected journalist and former BBC editor, Kadaria Ahmed.
They noted that Benue State recorded 6,896 deaths with over 450,000 people displaced, while Plateau lost 2,630 lives to violence that destroyed farmlands and poisoned water sources.
Zamfara, they added, has seen more than 638 villages destroyed, with residents forced to pay levies to criminals.
The leaders also highlighted renewed Boko Haram attacks in the Northeast, including Gwoza, Damboa, Biu and Bama, which forced farmers off their lands and revived fears of the insurgency’s darkest years.
They warned that bandit groups in Sokoto, Kebbi, Katsina and Niger now operate as local warlords, while the Southeast continues to suffer killings by unidentified gunmen.
According to the coalition, the Nigerian state has lost its monopoly on the use of force, with militias and armed gangs multiplying across regions.
They condemned what they described as national silence, where massacres are followed by routine condemnations but little action, calling it the slow implosion of the nation’s conscience.
Drawing lessons from countries such as Colombia, Rwanda and Northern Ireland, the leaders stressed that peace is possible when national elites build consensus, reform security institutions and confront systemic challenges.
They rejected attempts to attribute violence to one ethnic group, insisting that Nigerian citizens themselves are perpetrators and that poverty, impunity, arms proliferation and weak governance are at the root of the crisis.
To address the situation, they called for the urgent creation of a Presidential Task Force on National Security with extraordinary powers to coordinate emergency action.
They proposed that the body should establish community-based early warning systems, oversee disarmament and reintegration in conflict zones, and publish quarterly public security reports to rebuild trust.
The leaders urged the President, National Assembly, governors, religious figures, traditional rulers and security chiefs to embrace bold reforms, warning that Nigeria stands at a knife-edge between chaos and recovery.
They concluded that history will not judge the criminals but the leaders who failed to protect citizens when it mattered most.
