President Bola Tinubu has declared that all armed non-state actors operating outside the authority of the Nigerian state will henceforth be treated as terrorists under a new security and criminal justice framework being implemented by his administration.
Speaking on Friday, Tinubu presented the 2026 budget to the national assembly’s joint session.
The president stated that bandits, violent cults, militias, armed gangs, criminal organisations located in forests, and foreign-affiliated mercenaries would no longer be viewed as isolated criminal elements but rather as terrorist threats to the stability of the country under the new security architecture.
“We will usher in a new era of criminal justice. We will show no mercy to those who commit or support acts of terrorism, banditry, kidnapping for ransom and other violent crimes,” Tinubu said.
“Our administration is resetting the national security architecture and establishing a new national counterterrorism doctrine — a holistic redesign anchored on unified command, intelligence gathering, community stability, and counter-insurgency. This new doctrine will fundamentally change how we confront terrorism and other violent crimes.”
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President Tinubu added that the new framework will unify all counterterrorism operations under a coordinated command structure to ensure efficiency and rapid response.
Tinubu went into additional detail about the new measures’ reach, naming the groups that will be subject to more stringent enforcement procedures.
He claimed that the administration’s strategy is all-encompassing and targets both offenders and those who enable them.
“Under this new architecture, any armed group or gun-wielding non-state actors operating outside state authority will be regarded as terrorists,” he said.
“Bandits, militias, armed gangs, armed robbers, violent cults, forest-based armed groups and foreign-linked mercenaries will all be targeted.
“We will go after all those who perpetrate violence for political or sectarian ends, along with those who finance and facilitate their evil schemes.”
Nigerians were reassured by the president that his administration is dedicated to re-establishing peace and order throughout the nation.
“We will invest in security with clear accountability for outcomes — because security spending must deliver results,” he added.
“To secure our country, our priority will remain on increasing the fighting capability of our armed forces and other security agencies and boosting the effectiveness of our fighting forces with cutting-edge equipment and other hardware.”
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