For those who have always insisted that the nation’s fight against insecurity in the North was never meant to be won, two recent events have only reinforced their conviction.
That the governments, especially during the late Muhammadu Buhari’s era, have refused, for political expediency and personal benefits, failed to halt this madness, but opted to treat insurgency and banditry with levity, can be attributed as being responsible for the long drawn devastation, and loss of lives and property in that region.
Therefore, only a sincere and dispassionate approach to these crises can see us end these wanton killings and destruction across the country.
The first instance, about two weeks ago, the Katsina State government explained its decision to initiate the release of 70 persons suspected to be involved in banditry, saying the move was part of efforts to sustain an ongoing peace deal with armed groups operating in the state.
The Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Mr. Nasir Muazu, said the decision was taken to consolidate peace agreements reached between affected communities and repentant bandits across several local government areas of the state.
Muazu spoke in an interview following public reactions to a leaked government letter requesting judicial intervention to facilitate the release of the suspects.
According to him, the peace deal, which involves at least 15 local government areas, has led to the release of about 1,000 persons abducted during bandit attacks.
He likened the release of the suspects to prisoner exchanges that usually occur during wartime.
According to the document, the proposed release was intended to serve as a condition for the continuation of the peace accord reached between frontline local governments and the bandits.
It added that while some of the suspects had been arraigned before the Federal High Court, others were still in detention awaiting trial at various magistrate courts across the state.
A letter dated January 2, 2026, and marked “SECRET,” surfaced online last week, indicating that the state government had initiated steps to secure the release of suspected bandits facing criminal trials.
The letter was issued by the Katsina State Ministry of Justice and addressed to the Chief Judge of the state.
Signed by the Director of Public Prosecutions, Mr. Abdur-Rahman Umar, the letter stated that a list of 48 suspects accused of various banditry-related offences had been forwarded to the ministry by the Ministry of Internal Security and Home Affairs.
According to the document, the proposed release was intended to serve as a condition for the continuation of the peace accord reached between frontline local governments and the bandits.
The letter further disclosed that another list of about 22 inmates facing trial before different high courts in Katsina State had also been submitted for possible release under the same arrangement.
Responding to the backlash, Muazu said the peace deal had already yielded tangible results, noting that abducted persons had been released in several local government areas, including Sabuwa, Safana, Kurfi, Faskari, Danmusa, Bakori and Dutsinma.
“All over the world, after wars, prisoner exchanges usually take place. During Nigeria’s civil war, prisoners were exchanged, just as it happened in negotiations involving Boko Haram,” he said.
The first natural reaction to this development is to be alarmed but when you realise that this has been the practice for as long as insurgency and banditry have lasted, so it’s not really new.
But the question to ask is why were they being carried out secretly? Why are they not done with public knowledge if indeed they are sure that is the right thing to do?
This has been the general pattern with the north and this is not a mere coincidence. All criminal elements arrested are always allowed to escape or when arrested are freed or poorly prosecuted so they can escape with a slap in the wrist. There are just too many instances. Terrorists have been known to escape to government houses and into military barracks. This is not new. They have been seen at social gatherings dining with government bigwigs.
The argument that prisoners exchange is normal is only being smart by half because, not only is this war still raging, there is no guarantee that after releasing them they will not again go back to the same crime. The manner these criminals are treated is the reason this nation may not know peace in a long time.
Again, it’s difficult to completely blame the local governments that these criminals have overrun and terrorised for too long, because they are helpless and cannot do anything on their own. Some local farmers cannot access their farms until they have paid some sort of royalties to these criminals. Added to these reality is the fact that the elite and government officials, including top military brass, are profiting from the unfortunate illegal activities of these criminals especially in the Northwest.
Until there is a genuine desire to rout these criminals and their sponsors and sympathisers, the nation would remain in this vicious war.
Placating and patronising them is not a permanent solution and for the unfortunate locals in those local governments, they are left with little or no option.
How can the nation win a war when those who are saddled with the responsibility are the very ones behind the atrocities?
The second unfortunate incident is the abduction of 177 Christian worshippers in Kaduna last Sunday, and the initial denials by the Nigeria Police, state and local governments that no such incident occurred.
The Police later confirmed the incident and unfortunate abduction of the worshippers of the ECWA and Cherubim and Seraphin Churches.
The about-face by the police came on the heels of the release of the identities of the victims, said to have been kidnapped in Kurmin Wali Community of Kajuru Local Government Area of Kaduna.
The Kaduna police in its denial described the initial report as the handiwork of mischief makers and tagged the reports as the narrative of “conflict entrepreneurs,” while demanding details of the alleged victims.
Around the same time, the Chairman of Kajuru Local Government Area also publicly denied that any kidnapping had taken place within his jurisdiction.
What cannot be denied is that these incessant cases of insecurity and the very predictable pattern of reaction and response from both the government and security agencies only confirm the belief by a lot of people that these are orchestrated and well-defined plots aimed at achieving greater goal and sinister motives.
It’s for these reasons of achieving that ultimate plot that the reaction or response to these incidents have followed the same pattern all over the north: allowing criminals escape without trace.
For instance, in this Kaduna kidnap, it was alleged that when it happened the villagers, immediately alerted the police. In this age and time that cannot be a problem, but where were the policemen? Kidnapping close to 200 people cannot be so swift and fast that the police or other security forces cannot catch up with them.
Yet, the police was more preoccupied with denial than hunting the bandits. How do bandits or insurgents succeed in rustling hundreds of cattle and escape without arrest or trace? Is this not the same pattern with a recent incident where soldiers were withdrawn from a school only for bandits to attack few hours after?
So, let the truth be told, the real conflict entrepreneurs are those enabling these atrocities as government officials, security operatives and the political class and their pseudo intellectual religious clerics who are a part of this grand plot to achieve their sinister motive which in the fullness of time will be exposed for what it is.
Shame to the Kaduna State government and the state Police.
