Gen. Christopher Musa, the Chief of Defence Staff(CDS), has connected the recent spike in murders nationwide to the run-up to the general election in 2027.
The nation has recently seen a resurgence of bandit attacks in the North-West and terror acts in the Northeast. Killing hotspots remain in Plateau and Benue states.
At least 34 worshippers were killed Monday at a mosque in Katsina State’s Unguwar Mantau village, which is part of the Malumfashi Local Government Area.
Speaking Thursday night on Channels Television’s Politics Today, CDS Musa stated that political activities leading up to the polls could not be separated from the increasing wave of insecurity in comparison to the previous year.
According to the CDS, some politicians are deliberately fuelling violence to discredit the government’s security record and campaign on the back of chaos.
“Criminals, both bandits and terrorists, work together. They have a common goal to make money and destabilise communities. But there is also a political angle. Some individuals don’t want peace because when there is peace, the government is seen to be doing well. When there is no peace, the government is seen to be failing.
“Last year, we recorded the lowest number of deaths. How come this year, suddenly, everything has spiked? Politics is coming, the election is coming. You cannot rule out the fact that some people are controlling these criminals to ensure there is no peace, and governance is discredited. But the funny thing is, how do you kill the people you want to govern? What do you gain from it?” Musa asked.
The CDS also revealed that both domestic and international funding are responsible for the continued growth of terrorism in Nigeria.
He noted that although the process of identifying terror financiers has been slowed down by legal obstacles, the Attorney-General of the Federation, the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit, the Department of State Services, and the National Intelligence Agency are all tracking them.
CDS Musa assured that these connections are being monitored and mentioned the discovery of international cooperation and foreign financing of terrorists.
Musa decried that the country’s legal system frustrates terrorism prosecution, calling for faster trials, stiffer laws and the creation of special courts for terrorism cases.
Musa added, “Also, it has to do with the legal system. Sometimes, legal intercepts, you take it to court, and it is knocked out for one reason or another. Again, we have to review our legal system because some of the punishments and prosecutions are slow and inadequate.
“If we have special courts, we will treat cases as quickly as they should. We also need to review the punishment for offences. But our laws need to be stringent, even for terrorism. Our legal system is frustrating. We need to unbundle it, make it faster and more stringent. Once people know they can get away with anything, impunity sets in, and we cannot prosecute.
“Sometimes you take evidence to court, and it is knocked out for one reason or another. Punishments are slow and inadequate. We need to unbundle our legal system, make it faster and more stringent. Once people know they can get away with anything, impunity sets in. For example, in the South-South, we arrest vessels, they pay peanuts, and the vessels return. That’s why we resorted to bombing them, though environmental concerns arose. But that has brought more peace than allowing the legal bottlenecks to continue,” the CDS added.
The CDS also recognised the security threats associated with instability in the Sahel, citing Nigeria’s porous 4,000-kilometer border and free markets for weapons and ammunition in surrounding nations.
He emphasised that many infiltrators appear as brothers and sisters but ultimately become threats, and warned Nigerians against showing indiscriminate hospitality to foreigners.
Musa urged Nigerians to help the Armed Forces by refusing to hide criminals, but he also stated that the military was collaborating with Sahelian counterparts under the Alliance of Sahel States to combat cross-border terrorism.
The CDS also stated that the military needed real-time satellites for precision strikes, noting however, that the technology was very expensive, a fact he said was exploited by the bandits and terrorists.
He added, “You see, in terms of what we need, we need real-time satellites. I tell you an example when an operation is ongoing, and you can see, your commanders can direct you, this man is moving here, these ones are deployed here, good. But we don’t have that, and these things are expensive to get, because we don’t have them. And they capitalise on these incapacities.”
Join Our Social Media Channels:
WhatsApp: NaijaEyes
Facebook: NaijaEyes
Twitter: NaijaEyes
Instagram: NaijaEyes
TikTok: NaijaEyes
