Insecurity: Declare state of emergency in North now, Northern elders tell Tinubu

 The Northern Elders Forum (NEF) has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to immediately declare a state of emergency in Northern Nigeria, warning that the region’s escalating insecurity poses a grave threat to national stability.

In a communiqué signed by its spokesperson, Professor Abubakar Jika Jiddere, on Wednesday, the forum said the scale and persistence of violent attacks, abductions, and killings across the North require urgent, decisive action.

“The recurring atrocities in Northern Nigeria constitute serious breaches of constitutional and international obligations and, in their scale and persistence, will amount to crimes against humanity under international law,” Jiddere stated.

NEF expressed alarm over recent attacks, including the August 19 massacre of at least 27 worshippers during early morning prayers at a mosque in Unguwan Mantau village, and the execution of 35 abductees in Zamfara State despite ransom payments. It also cited separate assaults in Kaduna’s Kauru and Kudan LGAs, which left eight dead and several injured.

“These incidents are part of a persistent pattern of organised criminal violence and banditry that have claimed thousands of lives, displaced hundreds of thousands, undermined food security, crippled economic activity, and inflicted deep psychological trauma,” the forum noted.

NEF accused security agencies of being overstretched and, in some cases, complicit through inaction, warning that public trust in government institutions is eroding rapidly.

The elders urged Tinubu to:

Declare a state of emergency acknowledging the extraordinary scale of the crisis.

Deploy adequately trained and equipped security forces with clear rules of engagement to protect civilians and secure borders.

Provide compensation, rehabilitation, and humanitarian assistance for victims and displaced persons in line with international standards.

Strengthen border control and regional cooperation with ECOWAS and AU states to curb cross-border incursions.

Engage international partners, including the AU and UN, for technical and humanitarian support.

Failure to act decisively, NEF warned, could deepen human suffering, undermine national unity, threaten democracy, and destabilise the region.

“The Tinubu administration must act immediately, decisively, and transparently in full alignment with Nigeria’s domestic and international obligations,” the forum insisted, pledging to keep monitoring developments and engaging stakeholders at all levels.

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