…Urge open punishment for perpetrators
With the web of kidnappings, banditry and killings that defined the immediate past year, especially in the last quarter, many Nigerians are earnestly asking for respite this year.
From the farms and villages sacked in Benue and Plateau, to the Kebbi school girls, Niger students and teachers, Kwara worshippers and to other gruesome incidents, the spate of terror was worrisome, amid losses of lives and properties.
Many are urging the federal government to speed up its collaborations with the United States of America on security to ensure a safer year for Nigerians, especially the helpless in the hinterlands, where most of the attacks happen.
Apart from the collaborations, many concerned Nigerians are calling on President Bola Tinubu and his team to use the same speed and passion with which they are using to implement the new tax law to fight insecurity, save lives and consolidate on Nigeria’s sovereignty, considering the new year abduction and killings in Niger State, with victims including the students, who regained freedom from their abductors in December.
Read also: Banditry, kidnapping, conflicts, tax Nigeria’s food systems
“It is time to end all these. We cannot continue in the abduction, negotiation, release and re-abduction game. We are toying with people’s lives and destinies,” Hassan Kontagora, an Abuja-based corporate trainer and education consultant, lamented.
The Kontagora-born consultant and Ahmadu Bello University-trained education expert insisted that with the US in the insecurity game, Nigerians should have respite now, and ransom negotiations and payments should be over.
“We were told that the recent killings of villagers in Niger State were by terrorists suspected to be fleeing from Sokoto and Zamfara following the United States’ air strike on Christmas Eve.
“So, what stops our soldiers from finishing them off? Is there no coordination? Don’t they envisage them fleeing?
“The government has to be serious with the insecurity fight this year, or we will reap the same result of more talks, more funds and yet more killings,” he warned.
On her part, Agnes Onche, a retired director in the Ministry of Education and a school proprietress, urged the federal government to do everything within its power to ensure security across the country in 2026 because of many deaths that are even reported, especially in the hinterland.
Onche, who runs private secondary schools in Keffi, Nasarawa State and Otukpo in Benue State, decried that she closed the boarding facilities in her schools on security grounds, while losing a huge number of students, especially from affluent families in Abuja, Lagos, Makurdi and Kaduna.
“As we talk, no reasonable parent will send their children back to any of the unity schools because they are high targets for abductors. Most of them are in the outskirts of the cities and the hinterland where the abductors roam freely.
Read also: Fear grips Nigeria as bandit attacks, kidnappings surge
“One thing we need in 2026 is security across our schools, farms and villages in the hinterland because they are the prime targets of abductors. It is better to equip our security agencies to secure them than to pay a huge ransom to the heartless abductors,” Onche said.
Toeing the same line, Matthew Man-Oso Ndagoso, Catholic Archbishop of Kaduna, called on the government to give Nigerians security in 2026, and other things will fall into place.
The Catholic Archbishop extended his call to the federal government and security agencies to secure the release of Rev. Fr. Bobbo Pascal and other victims held in kidnappers’ dens.
For him, it is sad that Rev. Fr. Bobbo Pascal has been in the abductors’ den since the early hours of November 17, 2025, when he was abducted from his residence in Kushe Gugdu, Kagarko local government area of Kaduna State.
“The primary responsibility of any government is the protection of lives and property. So, the persisting insecurity poses a serious threat to peace and national stability,” the clergy said, while calling for a safer Nigeria in 2026.
Reacting to the recent abduction and killings in Kasuwan Daji Community in Niger State, Chijioke Umelahi, an Abuja-based lawyer, decried that it was the last thing Nigerians expected this new year, especially with the collaboration with the US on security.
“I think our government has to define the collaboration with the US. They have to intensify their air strikes to make 2026 safer for Nigerians,” he said.
He regretted that Mr President, like his predecessors, said the usual thing after deadly attacks on innocent citizens, which is to strongly condemn the attack, as he did in the case of the Kasuwan Daji Community and the abduction of women and children recently.
Read also: Attacks in Nigeria: What’s behind the latest kidnappings, church raid?
He argued that instead of the usual heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims, efforts at averting future attacks would be better and sustainable.
“Yes, the government should be commended for the release of the many abducted in Niger, Kebbi and Kwara last year, but the citizens prefer lasting solutions and not another wave of abduction in the new year and then negotiation and ransom payment follow. Let’s get permanent solutions and sustainable results in 2026,” he admonished.
He noted further that the Minister of Defence, the Chief of Defence Staff, the Service Chiefs, the Inspector-General of Police, and the Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS) will obey President Bola Tinubu’s directive to track down and apprehend the perpetrators of the Kasuwan Daji attack, but that they are often not brought to justice, hence the persisting attacks.
“The abductors went after students in Niger State last year and succeeded, and that is why they went back this new year. Does it mean the area is unguarded after the first attack, knowing that it is now a flashpoint? We need to be coordinated and serious enough to fight and win this year,” he said.
Beyond the large-scale abductions in the north west and central, the lawyer noted that there are some pockets of abductions across the south south and south east, where the victims pay substantial ransom to regain freedom, while a few die in the abductors’ den.
Proffering solutions for a safer Nigeria in 2026, Ndagoso called on the authorities to dismantle kidnapping syndicates and ensure that perpetrators are apprehended and prosecuted to serve as a deterrent to others.
“Governments at all levels should address the root causes of insecurity by investing in job creation, education and social development initiatives,” he advised.
“Even with the US collaboration, I don’t see us achieving much in the fight against insecurity without sincerity. There seems to be a lot of moles in the system, a lot of saboteurs and high-placed people who live on ransom negotiations. Sadly, they are still here with us and are smiling to the bank at the expense of the helpless and innocent citizens,” he concluded.
Read also: Kidnapping schoolchildren a ‘lesser evil’ than killing soldiers – Gumi
On his part, Bem Hembafan, a retired senior security officer, noted that what Nigeria needs to win the fight against insecurity in 2026 and beyond are sincerity, effective collaborations among security agencies and bringing the perpetrators to justice.
“We have heard about the orders for four attack helicopters from the United States of America and the approach to Turkey for assistance, and others, like state police, but the approaches and machines will not deliver. It is only the patriotic Nigerians operating them. We need to change our wrong and selfish attitudes towards Nigeria to make the country safer for all this year. It should not be how much I can get, but how many I can save,” he urged.
Some observers have also tasked President Tinubu and military chiefs to ensure that known kidnappers and bandits for not go unpunished.
