Salihu Ayatullahi, Editor-in-Chief of The Informant247, has cautioned that the security challenges facing North-Central Nigeria must not be politicised.
Ayatullahi made the call while speaking as a guest speaker at a one-day virtual session organised by Human’s Light Humanitarian Foundation (HLHF) in collaboration with The Informant247.
The webinar, held on Friday, August 15, was themed “Security Development and Challenges in the North-Central Region of Nigeria: Journalistic Perspective.”
North-Central Nigeria, comprising Kwara, Plateau, Kogi, Benue, Nasarawa, Niger, and the Federal Capital Territory, has for years been severely affected by insecurity — ranging from banditry, kidnapping, insurgency, communal clashes, herders’ attacks, and ethno-religious crises to recurring farmers-herders’ conflicts that have left thousands dead and displaced.
Ayatullahi said the poor framing of violence in the region has led to misdiagnosis, wrong policy responses, and the escalation of conflict.
While stressing that government responses have been largely ineffective, he noted that the fight against insecurity must be driven by intelligence gathering and collaborative efforts.
“Intelligence forms the bedrock of security governance by gathering and acting on processed information. Government has failed to turn early warning information into actionable intelligence or to proactively prevent attacks,” he said.
He emphasised that authorities must properly diagnose the root causes of insecurity before initiating solutions, noting that each state faces unique challenges.
“The insecurity in Benue State is largely driven by farmers-herders’ clashes, that of Plateau is mostly ethno-religious, while Niger and Kwara are more of banditry. The challenges across states are relatively different and must be treated as such,” he said.
Ayatullahi linked the rising insecurity in Kwara and Niger to a spillover from the North-West, where terror groups operated by bandits and kidnappers are reportedly taking root in the vast forests of the region.
He warned against politicising insecurity, stressing that government and security apparatus often dismisses early reports of attacks as alarmist.
“In Kwara, the police have on several occasions ruled out reports of insecurity as false alarms. This must stop. Action should be taken when necessary rather than resorting to denial,” he said.
On citizens’ protection, Ayatullahi noted that while soldiers are sometimes deployed to flashpoints in Kwara North and South, locals are often re-targeted once the military withdraws. “These reactionary responses have not helped stem the deadly violence,” he said.
He added that state authorities cannot continue to negotiate with criminal gangs who repeatedly return to violence, and he highlighted the weakness of the justice system in punishing offenders.
“It should not be about arrests alone. Real prosecution and punishment must be in place for acts of banditry and terrorism,” he said.
“Don’t reduce them to numbers, they have dreams”
From a journalistic perspective, Ayatullahi urged reporters to tell insecurity stories from a human angle, not just statistics.
“We must avoid sensationalising insecurity. Victims have dreams and aspirations — they should not be reduced to mere numbers,” he said.
He also cautioned against misinformation, warning that the pursuit of political points or clickbait must never override accuracy and authenticity.
“Another major challenge is misinformation around insecurity. We must always verify reports before publishing or sharing them,” he stressed, adding that The Informant247 remains committed to ethical and professional reporting on security issues.
Earlier, Waliu Afolabi Olanrewaju, Programme Lead for HLHF, said the webinar was organised to raise awareness on the rising insecurity in the North-Central and to explore possible solutions.
He said the conversation, which wasn’t the first to be organised by the foundation, seeks to increase awareness about the challenges and also unravel the intricacies of insecurity while proffering a lasting solution to it.
