25/09/2025
WHEN WILL FG RELEASE THE NAMES OF TERRORIST SPONSORS?
The Federal Government of Nigeria has consistently failed to publish or prosecute the financiers and sponsors of terrorism, despite repeated promises and mounting evidence. Instead, the nation is treated to diversionary tactics, such as those led by the Chairman of the House Committee on Navy, Hon. Yusuf Gagdi, who now campaigns against the creation of state police. This is both hypocritical and absurd, considering that his own constituency in Kanam Local Government of Plateau State has been ravaged by kidnappings, killings, and displacement under the watch of federal-controlled security agencies. Rather than pressing for transparency and accountability, Gagdi has chosen to oppose state policing and distract attention from the real issues.
There are serious allegations that key political figures have directly or indirectly aided terrorism. Senator Shehu Buba of Bauchi South has been accused on several media platforms of sponsoring terrorism, with videos circulating of his engagements with bandits in Zamfara. Former Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasiru El-Rufai, has publicly accused the current National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, of feeding and paying bandits. Even the Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, recently promised that the names of terrorist financiers would be released, yet Nigerians are still waiting. While these weighty allegations linger, bandits are shamelessly granted legitimacy at government-sponsored “peace meetings,” appearing with sophisticated weapons under the protection of security forces.
Hon. Gagdi’s claim that governors cannot be trusted with state police because they mismanaged local governments and state electoral commissions is weak, inconsistent, and lazy. Has the Federal Government managed federal elections any better? The same federal-controlled security architecture has failed to protect citizens and is itself riddled with corruption, buck-passing, and inefficiency. He also calls for more funding for security agencies, but what has happened to the ₦3.10 trillion defense budget of 2025? Why are our soldiers and police poorly equipped while terrorists and bandits possess superior firepower? Why has oil theft and illegal bunkering continued unchecked under the direct purview of federal agencies, including the Navy he oversees?
The most dangerous threat to Nigeria’s security today is not just the terrorists themselves but their sponsors and financiers. Fingers point at the National Assembly and the Office of the National Security Adviser, yet Hon. Gagdi and his colleagues are not calling for a thorough probe into these serious allegations. Instead, they prefer to play politics with national security. During President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, the United Arab Emirates submitted names of Nigerian terrorist sponsors to the government, but to this day, those names have neither been published nor prosecuted. This failure is not a mistake—it reflects deliberate complicity.
Nigeria is fast approaching a point of no return. With ongoing stage-managed peace negotiations and campaigns against state policing, it is evident that the silence on terrorist financiers is a ploy to shield the powerful and manipulate electoral outcomes. If these atrocities continue unchecked, millions of Nigerians risk losing their ancestral lands and becoming internally displaced by 2027, vulnerable to exploitation during elections. General Sani Abacha’s words remain the best tool for analysis: “If insurgency persists for more than 48 hours, government is involved.” In line with the warnings of General T.Y. Danjuma and the current DSS Director-General Adeola Ajayi, the only viable solution is a constitutional amendment establishing state, local government, and community police with full powers, alongside granting citizens the right to bear arms. Anything less is complicity in the destruction of Nigeria.
