News
Security chiefs under fire over mass killings
The security chiefs, according to stakeholders, may have been overwhelmed or treating the problem with kid gloves.
The wave of terrorism has sparked public outrage across the country, especially with continuous killings in Plateau, Benue, Borno, and Katsina states, and the emergence of a new terror group, Mahmuda, aka the Mallam Group, in the North Central.
Mahmuda adds to growing security concerns already worsened by Boko Haram, ISWAP, Lakurawa, and other bandit and militia groups.
The security chiefs include the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Christopher Musa; Chief of Army Staff, Lt-Gen. Olufemi Oluyede; Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Hassan Abubakar, Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla; and the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun.
Also in charge of security matters are the National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, Minister of Defence, Mohammed Badaru, and the Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle.
250 killed in two weeks
Within two weeks, about 250 people were reported killed in separate attacks on Plateau, Benue, Borno, Kebbi, Katsina, Abia, and Kwara states.
Reports indicated that at least 113 people were killed in Plateau State by suspected Fulani militants who invaded Zike, Kimakpa, and areas within Bokkos and Bassa local government areas of the state.
In Benue State, attacks by suspected armed herders on communities in the Ukum and Logo LGs of the state claimed 20 lives on April 17, 2025. The death toll later increased to 55 after more bodies were recovered on Sunday, April 19.
The new terror group, Mahmuda, also killed 15 vigilantes and villagers on Wednesday in an attack on Kemaanji, a community in Kaiama LG of Kwara State.
Reports showed that the group had taken control of areas within Babana and Wawa districts of Borgu LG in Niger State.
This is as some soldiers were seen in different videos accusing the authorities of not arming them with enough weapons to confront the terrorists and bandits.
Bello Turji nightmare
Meanwhile, notorious bandit leader, Bello Turji, has been reportedly unleashing mayhem on residents.
In September 2024, President Tinubu ordered Matawalle, and the military chiefs to relocate to Sokoto State as part of efforts to rid the state and the North-West of terrorism and arrest Turji.
However, seven months after the presidential directive, the military has yet to apprehend Turji.
The bandit leader has been linked to several mass killings, kidnappings, and attacks on villages in Zamfara, Sokoto, and parts of Katsina.
In February, the Chief of Defence Operations, Major General Emeka Onumajuru, said the military was actively tracking the bandit kingpin and he would soon be neutralised.
But Turji has remained elusive, with his fighters carrying out deadly attacks and collecting levies from some communities in the North-West region.
He is also said to be controlling some villages in the region where his men operate with little resistance, despite the deployment of additional troops and intelligence resources.
A civil society organisation in Kebbi State, the Association for Peace and Good Governance, berated the military for not arresting Turgi.
Speaking in Birnin Kebbi, the Secretary General of the group, Usman Anache, stated that the service chiefs in particular had failed the north and President Bola Tinubu.
“The north has been turned into a killing field with no concrete action taken by the service chiefs,” Anache said.
Calls for security review
Responding to the killings in Plateau, a lawmaker representing Bassa/Jos North Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Daniel Asama, who spoke on Channels Television’s programme, ‘The Morning Brief,’ claimed that security agencies were familiar with the whereabouts of the masterminds of the recent killings in the state.
He said, “The security agencies know where these attacks have been coming from. The people in the community can show them the routes of these attackers.”
Reacting to the rising terror attacks, a former Chief of Defence Training and Planning, General Ishola Williams (retd.), accused the service chiefs of benefiting from the insecurity in the country.
He stated that the security agencies were not showing enough commitment to ending insecurity, noting that there was a need to restructure the security apparatus.
“Early this year, we were clamouring for the review of the security architecture. They said there’s no reason for that. It appears that the service chiefs agree with the President that the military and police are doing well and they don’t want to push for a re-organisation; they don’t want any change.
“We keep repeating the same old story. They are killing soldiers for selling weapons to bandits. Apart from that, hunters and vigilantes are accusing the DSS of covering up for the bandits. Remember that the DSS said communities should defend themselves, because the military and the police cannot defend them anymore. And it’s supposed to be the head of intelligence,” he said.
The retired general called on the Federal Government to sack any service chief who didn’t align with its plans on security.
He said, “The Federal Government should reorganise the security architecture, whether the service chiefs like it or not. And anybody who disagrees with him should be sacked. Service chiefs who do not align should be sacked or they should resign. This is a matter of integrity.
“There is a need to run a special programme for the soldiers and policemen to tell them why they need to find a way to stop all these killings. Also, telling them to stop colluding with these bandits, kidnappers, and so on, because of money.
Open borders, absence of intelligence
A security expert and Chief Security Officer of Beacon Consulting, Dr Kabir Adamu, also slammed the security agencies, noting that they were not being properly coordinated.
He said no meaningful impact would be made in the fight against insecurity if the agencies were not working together.
Adamu said, “Each of them is operating in silos. The founding fathers of our constitution, when they created all of these agencies, the intention was that they would work together towards achieving Section 14(2) of the constitution.
“But today, we are waking up to a situation where those who are supposed to coordinate them are more interested in carrying out operations than their coordination functions. The inability to coordinate the security agencies has created gaps that are being exploited by the criminals.”
Adamu added that the inability to manage Nigerian borders effectively also indicated a lack of cooperation among the security agencies.
He said, “Our borders are still porous because our security agencies don’t cooperate. They don’t work together. The customs and immigration that have responsibility for border security don’t have enough power to man the borders. So, they should have cooperated more with the military, as an example. But we’re not seeing enough of that.
“The security agencies are not doing enough because they are operating in silos, with no coordination. As an example, when was the last time the National Security Council met?”
Similarly, the National President of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights, Debo Adeniran, said the Federal Government had failed to secure the lives and property of its citizens.
“Why do we have the intelligence arms of the Nigerian police, the army, and the rest of them? What information are they gathering? They are supposed to get prior information about the looming attack from the insurgents. They should know that there are ungoverned spaces in Nigeria, and they should ensure that they are secure,” he stated.
According to Adeniran, the service chiefs needed to be given targets, and dismissed if they didn’t meet them.
“There should be targets, and if they don’t meet up, they should be dismissed because they are incompetent, and they are wasting public funds. They should be punished for it. Once they have been given that mandate that either they conquer or they don’t return, that should be a kind of thing to be done.
“This will not be the first time people have been calling for their removal. Their removal does not stop anything. All of them are walking hand in hand. If you remove them, they are still part of the same entity,” he stated.
In his comment, the Chief Executive Officer of Security Watch Africa, Patrick Agbamu, argued that once the government provided the necessary resources, the security chiefs should be held accountable and dismissed if they failed to perform.
“The security operatives are not angels. Providing them with what they need to work with is when they can be questioned or removed. Then the person being brought in will know they have the tools to do their work,” he said.
‘Govs must step in’
However, Lieutenant Colonel Abdulwahab Ademola (retd) said changing the service chiefs might not be effective, noting that there was a need to organise a national security summit.
He explained that since the security forces had proved incapable, governors should explore ways to strengthen community-based defence and empower local communities to protect themselves.
Ademola said, “The governors should ban group motorcycles and anyone found in the forest. After this, any group of motorcycles seen in the forest should just be neutralised.
“Maybe the Federal Government is afraid of ceding power to the states. There is supposed to be state police, and till now, nobody is saying anything about it anymore. Otherwise, what is wrong with the president facing it squarely?”
Ademola condemned the weapons used by the soldiers, adding that with such equipment, there was no clear end in sight to the insecurity.
He stated, “We have gone through this before during Buratai’s long stay, and people were agitating that the service chiefs should be changed. It has become very clear that these institutions are confronted with a culture of sustaining themselves through what has become their mode of existence.”
Speaking on the matter, the President of the Southern Kaduna Peoples’ Union, Samuel Tabara, urged the government to be proactive on the security challenges.
The Minister of Information, Mohammed Idris, did not take his calls or respond to a text message sent to him on the matter as of the time of filing this report.
News
2027: Mandate Group Endorses ex Abia Speaker Chinedum Orji for Ikwuano/Umuahia Fed Constituency Seat
The Ikuku 2027 Mandate Group has endorsed former Speaker of the Abia State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Chinedum Enyinnaya Orji, as its preferred candidate to represent Ikwuano/Umuahia North/Umuahia South Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives in 2027.
In a statement titled, “Representation with Experience, Legislation with Results: The Ikwuano/Umuahia Compact for 2027,” the group said its position followed what it described as a careful assessment of aspirants seeking to represent the constituency.
According to the group, Orji stood out on the basis of his experience, capacity, character and record of public service, having previously served as Leader and Speaker of the Abia State House of Assembly.
The group said its support for the former Speaker was based on what it described as a desire to take tested legislative experience to the National Assembly.
“We are presenting Rt. Hon. Chinedum Enyinnaya Orji to represent our Federal Constituency in 2027. This is not a campaign of noise. It is a campaign of structure, law, and delivery,” the group stated.
It said Orji’s experience in presiding over legislative debates, passing budgets and exercising oversight over the executive would equip him to effectively represent the constituency in Abuja.
The group outlined security, economic relief, youth employment, education, healthcare, infrastructure, agriculture and transparency as key areas of its proposed legislative agenda for the constituency.
On security, it said Orji would support legislation aimed at strengthening community policing, local security architecture and federal intervention against kidnapping and violent crime across Ikwuano, Umuahia North and Umuahia South.
The group also said he would focus on legislation and oversight aimed at reducing the cost of doing business, improving access to credit for small and medium-scale enterprises and protecting households through scrutiny of policies affecting fuel and electricity costs.
On youth development, the group said the proposed agenda would seek to connect young people in the constituency to federal employment, entrepreneurship and skills-development programmes, including initiatives of the National Directorate of Employment and the Bank of Industry.
It added that education and healthcare would also feature prominently, with plans to advocate increased intervention in schools, expand access to scholarships and bursaries, and pursue improvements in primary healthcare and federal health infrastructure across the three local government areas.
The Ikuku 2027 Mandate Group further said Orji would use legislative engagement, budgetary advocacy and oversight to pursue federal road, electrification and water projects in the constituency.
“A legislator does not build a road, but he fights for it in the budget and monitors it,” the group stated, adding that quarterly reports on approved projects and their implementation would form part of its proposed accountability framework.
On agriculture, the group said the agenda would focus on policies supporting agro-processing, storage facilities, access to agricultural grants and improved market access for farmers, particularly in Ikwuano.
It also promised an open and accessible representation model, including annual scorecards, town-hall meetings across the three LGAs and a public tracker for constituency interventions.
The group said women, persons with disabilities and other underrepresented groups would also feature in its inclusion agenda, alongside support for women-owned businesses and girls’ education.
It further argued that the constituency deserved stronger federal presence, including more intervention programmes, training centres, agencies and infrastructure projects.
According to the group, its 2027 campaign would be built around ward-level engagement, policy town halls and what it described as data-driven voter outreach.
“Sloganeering gets attention. Campaigning gets results. And with Chinedum, you get both,” it stated.
The group described the proposed agenda as a “compact” with the people of Ikwuano/Umuahia North/Umuahia South, built around legislation, effective oversight, accessible representation and transparency.
“This is our contract with you: Legislation that protects. Oversight that delivers. Representation that is accessible. In 2027, vote for experience that has led, and leadership that will legislate,” the group stated.
It adopted the campaign message: “Ikwuano/Umuahia First. Experience That Works.”
The statement reads in full
REPRESENTATION WITH EXPERIENCE, LEGISLATION WITH RESULTS: The Ikwuano/Umuahia Compact for 2027″
BY IKUKU 2027 MANDATE GROUP
1. THE VERDICT AFTER SCRUTINY
After a careful examination and scrutiny of all those aspiring to represent Ikwuano/Umuahia North/Umuahia South Federal Constituency, and after weighing verifiable empirical indices of service, capacity, and character, one name stands clearly above the rest: Rt Hon Chinedum Enyinnaya Orji. He stands out as the most suitable because he has distinguished himself as a man of independent mind, tested experience, natural charisma, loyal followership, and above all, a human heart that beats for the people. In a race where many talk, he has a record to show.
2. THE MANDATE
We are presenting Rt Hon Chinedum Enyinnaya Orji to represent our Federal Constituency in 2027. This is not a campaign of noise. It is a campaign of structure, law, and delivery. Having served as Leader and Speaker at the subnational level, he understands how to turn the voice of the people into laws that actually work.
3. WHY EXPERIENCE MATTERS
As former Leader and Speaker, Chinedum presided over debates, passed budgets, and held the executive to account. That is the experience we are taking to Abuja: the skill to draft bills, build consensus across party lines, and ensure our constituency is not just present, but influential in the National Assembly.
4. SECURITY OF LIVES AND PROPERTY
For us, the first duty is safety. Chinedum will sponsor and support legislation to strengthen community policing, support local security architecture, and increase federal intervention against kidnapping and violent crime across Ikwuano and the two Umuahia LGAs. A safe constituency is a productive constituency.
5. THE ECONOMY AND COST OF LIVING
Food, transport, and power costs are biting our people. His focus will be on laws that reduce the cost of doing business for our traders in Umuahia markets, support SMEs with access to credit, and protect households through oversight of fuel subsidy reforms and electricity tariff structures. We are legislating relief, not just talking about it.
6. JOBS, YOUTH AND SKILLS
Youth unemployment is not a slogan to Chinedum. It is a policy problem. He will push for a Federal Constituency Skills and Entrepreneurship Act to link our young people to NDE, BOI, and digital job programs. Internships, vocational centers, and startup support will be tracked quarterly and reported back to the people.
7. EDUCATION AS A FOUNDATION
From primary schools in Ikwuano to tertiary access in Umuahia, education must work. He will advocate for increased UBEC and TETFund releases to our schools, sponsor bills for STEM (Science , Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) and vocational education, and establish a transparent constituency scholarship and bursary scheme tied to merit and need.
8. HEALTHCARE THAT REACHES YOU
Our PHCs must have drugs, staff, and power. Chinedum will use legislative oversight to ensure NHIA ( National Health Insurance Authority) enrollment drives reach our wards, push for constituency health bills, and lobby for federal health infrastructure upgrades in our three LGAs. No mother should die giving life.
9. POWER AND INFRASTRUCTURE THROUGH LAW
A legislator does not build a road, but he fights for it in the budget and monitors it. Chinedum will lobby for the inclusion of key Ikwuano-Umuahia roads, rural electrification, and water projects in federal budgets, and he will publish quarterly reports on what was approved and what was delivered. Oversight is his promise.
10. AGRICULTURE AND MARKET ACCESS
Ikwuano’s farmland and Umuahia’s markets are economic engines. He will support legislation for agro-processing, storage facilities, and easier access to federal agricultural grants. We will connect farmers to markets and reduce post-harvest losses through policy, not promises.
11. GOOD GOVERNANCE AND TRANSPARENCY
Having been Speaker, Chinedum knows how budgets are padded and projects disappear. He will run an open office: annual scorecards, town halls in all three LGAs, and a public tracker for all constituency interventions. The people must see where the money goes.
12. WOMEN AND INCLUSION
Legislation must reflect everyone. He will champion bills that support women in business, protect girls’ education, and ensure 35% inclusion of women and PWDs in constituency appointments and programs. Representation without inclusion is incomplete.
13. FEDERAL PRESENCE FOR OUR CONSTITUENCY
We deserve more federal projects and institutions. Chinedum will use his legislative relationships to attract agencies, training centers, and intervention programs to Ikwuano/Umuahia North/Umuahia South. Our size and capital city status must translate to federal advantage.
14. CAMPAIGNS, NOT JUST SLOGANS
Let’s be clear: electioneering is more than chants. This campaign will be built on ward-to-ward engagement, policy town halls, and data-driven voter outreach. Yes, we will have a message you can remember. But behind every slogan will be a bill number, a budget line, and a plan. Sloganeering gets attention. Campaigning gets results. And with Chinedum, you get both.
15. THE COMPACT
This is our contract with you: Legislation that protects. Oversight that delivers. Representation that is accessible. In 2027, vote for experience that has led, and leadership that will legislate.
“Ikwuano/Umuahia First. Experience That Works.”
Hon. Alex Mascot Ikwechegh, Member representing Aba North/Aba South Federal Constituency, has commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for what he described as “responsive leadership” following the Federal Government’s decision to accelerate implementation of the 2026 budget.
Speaking on Magic FM, Aba, on Thursday, Ikwechegh said the renewed push to release funds to Ministries, Departments and Agencies demonstrated that the President listens to the legislature.
“Mr. President has shown he is a listening President who has the interest of the nation at heart. He did not see our concerns as opposition. He saw them as part of our job to ensure Nigerians get value for money,” the lawmaker stated.
Ikwechegh had earlier drawn national attention after raising a motion on the floor of the House over delays in budget releases despite appropriations passed by the National Assembly. The intervention sparked debate among lawmakers over the slow pace of capital project execution.
The Federal Government has since announced measures to fast-track releases under the 2026 Appropriation Act, which provides for an aggregate expenditure of ₦68.32 trillion, with ₦32.2 trillion earmarked for capital expenditure.
According to Ikwechegh, legislative oversight is most effective when it produces concrete results.
“Our job is to speak firmly when policies are not working, and to also acknowledge when government takes corrective action. That is how the executive and legislature serve the people together,” he said.
The Abia lawmaker stressed that the real test of the budget lies in delivery — completed roads, functional hospitals, jobs for youths, and improved services across constituencies.
He expressed optimism that with improved coordination between the National Assembly and the Presidency, Nigerians will increasingly begin to feel the impact of the 2026 budget as implementation gathers momentum.
Costa Rica’s Rebeca Grynspan was the front-runner after last month’s first informal vote, in which the council’s 15 members, including the five with veto power, pass judgment in secret on the candidates.
Argentina’s Rafael Grossi — the current head of the UN nuclear watchdog — is also a candidate along with Chile’s Michelle Bachelet, Ecuador’s Maria Fernanda Espinosa, Guyana’s Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, Uganda’s Olara Otunnu and Senegal’s Macky Sall.
After the first round concluded, Ecuador’s Ivonne A-Baki threw her hat into the race to succeed Antonio Guterres, who will complete his second five-year term on December 31, 2026.
“While the first straw poll set the scene for the Secretary-General race, the second may give us some direction about where it is headed,” said the International Crisis Group’s Daniel Forti.
“Diplomats expect fluctuations in the vote distribution compared to the July poll. Most will be watching to see whether the early front-runners consolidate their support or slip in the standings.
“It is unlikely that any candidate will emerge from (Friday’s) poll with a decisive lead.”
Forti said the veto-wielding nations — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — might wait until later to express their preferences, while new contenders could emerge.
Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, said Thursday he could not rule out that possibility.
“If, for example — I’m speculating now — if there is a deadlock on any of the candidates we are seeing today, if nobody… flies, then I think that we may see other candidates as well,” Nebenzia said.
Even if a candidate earns the required nine votes from the 15 available in the Security Council, they must also avoid a veto by the five major powers, which are deeply divided.
Once a candidate clears those bars, their name will go to the General Assembly of all UN members for confirmation.
The Security Council straw poll was devised in the early 1980s in an attempt to break a deadlock between two candidates shut down by vetoes.
The informal mechanism has persisted, in various forms, despite criticism from countries opposed to the opaque process.
“There is a good chance that some nominees realise after (Friday’s) vote that their campaigns have reached the end of the road,” Forti added.
Each member state must anonymously assign each candidate one of three labels: “encourage,” “discourage,” or “no opinion.”
That would give those with no support the opportunity to withdraw — though they are not obliged.
In the first rounds of the process expected to take several weeks, all ballots are the same colour.
But after an unspecified number of votes, the ballots of the five permanent members will become a different colour from those of the elected members, making it possible to identify potential vetoes, without knowing which country blackballed any given candidate.
It is tradition that the UN’s top job should rotate between different regions.
Under that premise, the role should go to a candidate from Latin America this time. There are many candidates from the region, though Sall and Otunnu hail from Africa.
The civilian-contracted plane crashed at the airport of the long-range radar site in Cape Newenham, on the state’s southwestern tip, the Alaskan Command said in a statement.
Rescuers who landed near the crash site “confirmed there were no survivors,” it said.
The statement did not say what those onboard were doing at the radar site, which tracks aircraft operating in Alaskan airspace.
“This is a devastating loss for our military family and the communities we serve,” said Alaskan Command chief Robert Davis.
“These individuals were dedicated professionals carrying out a vital mission in a demanding environment,” Lieutenant General Davis added.
The African Airlines Association (AFRAA) has admitted Enugu Air as Member, extending the Association’s membership base in Nigeria’s fast-growing domestic aviation market and reaffirming AFRAA’s commitment to supporting the continued development of African carriers across the continent.
This was announced by AFRAA in Nairobi on Wednesday, making Enugu Air the 50th Member of the association, joining the AFRAA airline fraternity, collectively representing more than 85 per cent of total international traffic carried by African airlines.
Speaking on the development on Thursday, AFRAA Secretary General, Mr Abdérahmane Berthé, said, “We are delighted to welcome Enugu Air into the AFRAA fraternity.
“As a state-backed carrier serving Nigeria’s rapidly expanding domestic market, Enugu Air represents the kind of homegrown investment that is vital to building resilient air connectivity across our continent.
“We look forward to supporting the airline through the IOSA certification process and to its continued growth within the AFRAA membership, as we work together to advance the cause of unified African skies.”
Reacting to the development on Thursday, the CEO of Enugu Air, Capt Tolu Ita, described the admission into AFRAA as a major milestone in the airline’s short history.
“We are honoured to join the AFRAA fraternity. This membership underscores Enugu Air’s commitment to safe, reliable, and affordable air travel for Nigerians while contributing to the vision of a unified African aviation market.
“We look forward to collaborating with fellow AFRAA members and leveraging the association’s support as we grow our network and pursue IOSA certification,” Tolu stated.
Founded on July 7, 2025, Enugu Air commenced commercial operations with a fleet of Embraer E170/E190/E195 aircraft.
The airline, which has its headquarters in Enugu and operates from the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, currently serves nine domestic destinations including Enugu, Abuja, Lagos, Port Harcourt, Kano and Benin City.
As part of the airline’s growth strategy, Enugu Air plans to expand further across Nigeria and, in subsequent phases, to launch regional and international routes across Africa, Europe, and beyond.
As part of its growth strategy, Enugu Air plans to expand further across Nigeria and, in subsequent phases, to launch regional and international routes across Africa, Europe, and beyond.
The admission of Enugu Air aligns with AFRAA’s strategic priorities and strengthens the voice of the association. Nigeria, as Africa’s most populous nation and one of its fastest-growing economies, remains central to the realization of a truly integrated African aviation market.
Meanwhile, AFRAA association, which was founded in Accra, Ghana, in April 1968, and headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, has a mission meant to promote, serve African Airlines and champion Africa’s aviation industry.
The association envisions a sustainable, interconnected and affordable air transport industry in Africa, where African airlines become key players and drivers of African economic development.
AFRAA membership cuts across the entire continent and includes all the major intercontinental African operators.
The association’s members represent over 85 per cent of total international traffic carried by African airlines.
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