As bandits and terrorists continue to kill Nigerian civilians with impunity, the Tinubu administration faces its most serious governance test: delivering physical security to a nation already weary of promises.
The attacks came on a Sunday — the kind of day when communities gather, markets bustle, and people feel, briefly, that ordinary life is possible. Then the gunmen arrived. In Katsina State and on the Plateau, they left behind sixteen dead Nigerians, freshly bereaved families, and an unanswerable question that has haunted this country for years: when will this stop?
In Katsina State, bandits regrouped and stormed Jeka da Kolo and Kwalgoro villages in the Kankia Local Government Area, fatally shooting 11 persons before police tactical teams mobilised and repelled the assailants. The pattern is achingly familiar — an attack, a response, a condemnation, and then silence until the next attack. In Plateau State, the incident occurred on Sunday night, with residents reporting that the victims were returning home around 9 p.m. when they were ambushed without warning. Four persons were killed on the spot, while another died later in hospital. A sixth victim in what is now a numbing ritual of northern violence.
The breadth of insecurity is also expanding. The Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company confirmed the abduction of two of its staff in Ogun State, along the Ibadan-Ijebu Ode corridor, raising concerns about security spreading into the southwest. When power sector workers — critical infrastructure personnel — can be kidnapped on a major commercial highway in southwest Nigeria, no region can consider itself insulated from the crisis.
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The structural dimensions of this crisis are well-documented. Since the current government took office, at least 10,217 people have been killed in attacks by gunmen across Benue, Edo, Katsina, Kebbi, Plateau, Sokoto, and Zamfara states, according to Amnesty International. Benue state accounts for the highest toll, followed by Plateau where 2,630 people were killed. These are not statistics. They are communities hollowed out, farms abandoned, children orphaned, and an economy quietly haemorrhaging productivity in regions that should be among Nigeria’s most agriculturally productive.
President Tinubu, to his credit, has acknowledged the security challenge in his Paris engagements, committing to police decentralisation and the disruption of terrorist financing networks. These are structurally correct responses. But implementation timelines matter enormously. Every week of delay is measured in lives. Nigeria’s security architecture — spanning the military, police, DSS, and the various state-level vigilante bodies — needs not just reform but urgent, funded, coordinated deployment in the most affected communities. The nation is watching. Its most vulnerable citizens are waiting. The question is whether this administration’s security commitments will remain in the language of press statements, or translate into the concrete reality of protected lives.
Today’s Key Highlights:
- 16 killed in coordinated bandit and terrorist attacks in Katsina and Plateau states
- Power company staff abducted in Ogun State, indicating insecurity spreading southward
- Over 10,217 Nigerians killed in armed group attacks since May 2023, per Amnesty International
- Plateau State accounts for 2,630 deaths in the ongoing security crisis
- Tinubu commits to police decentralisation and terrorist financing disruption in Paris remarks
