“Wait Till After 2027”: Nigeria Bleeds While Its Leaders Campaign -By Abdulkadir Salaudeen

Nigeria’s insecurity challenge shows no sign of abating. Though we hope and pray it ends, nothing on the ground suggests it will end soon. I am aware that Senate President Godswill Akpabio said it would end two weeks after the upcoming 2027 election. I don’t know if that was a prophecy or a joke. All I know is that no serious Nigerian takes him seriously.

Like Akpabio, our leaders in Nigeria seem fixated only on the 2027 election. The message appears to be: “Wait until after the 2027 election. For now, we are busy. We don’t have time to address insecurity. Once we win, insecurity will end in two weeks.”

Let’s assume Akpabio and President Tinubu will end insecurity two weeks after the election. With the unrelenting scale of killings and kidnappings witnessed and experienced daily by Nigerians, how many Nigerians will still be alive to witness the peace Akpabio promises?

The boldness bandits display nowadays raises many questions. Who are the pillars of support behind these criminals? I don’t think it is Satan. If it is Satan, it can’t be Satan alone. How can Satan, who is faceless, preoccupy himself with Nigeria alone when there are more than 200 countries across the globe? There are probably powerful satanic agents they look up to as pillars of support.

These criminals have become so audacious that they kidnap victims and record videos of themselves while giving the victims the beating of their lives — unmasked. If unknown gunmen operate in the south, the gunmen in the north are known and are proud to be known because they take pride in kidnapping and collecting ransom. They become even more brutal when they kidnap people, collect ransom, and still go ahead to behead victims after payment.

Nigerians are alarmed by the viral video of a University of Jos student being tortured by his kidnappers. Not because such torture of victims by bandits is unheard of — victims go through hell in the hands of these savages — but because these savages, who do not belong anywhere in the modern age, are literally kings, lords, and slavers in Nigeria.

Their temerity, boldness, and audacity to reveal their faces and mention their locations speak volumes. In a way, it shows that government does not exist. If government exists, these rogues either do not believe in it or believe they are more powerful and smarter than the government.

Truth be told, there is a government in Nigeria. Didn’t Nigerians elect a president, governors, and lawmakers in 2023? The “Emi Lo Kan” president is still presiding over Nigeria. The problem with Nigeria at the moment is that we have a government that does not govern and might never govern because it apparently has no plan to govern. It governs on promises. As we say in local parlance: “Governance no be for mouth.”

When the government should act, it promises. For instance, when bandits attack, we always get “consoling” promises: “It will not happen again,” “Our security agencies are on top of the issue,” “The government is on a rescue mission and the kidnapped victims will be rescued.” President Tinubu’s recent consolatory speech to the people of Plateau State was even more saddening: “There’s nothing I can give you but a promise that this experience will not repeat itself,” the President said.

But when the government taxes the masses, when it is about to bleed the masses dry, it acts with alacrity; it does not promise. After President Tinubu promised the people of Plateau that the experience would not repeat itself, only God knows how many Plateau residents have been kidnapped and/or killed since. Terrifying news is everywhere, and the experience remains sad and unfortunate.

Social media is now flooded with short videos of victims pleading with family, friends, and the public to help get them out of kidnappers’ dens — not with prayers, but with money. These criminals demand money not in thousands, but in millions. Not single-digit millions, but tens and hundreds of millions. They have even started demanding billions and trillions. Where on earth do they expect their victims’ poor families to source such huge sums?

Are these bandits aware that the average Nigerian is in debt to the tune of N724,000? According to a Daily Trust analysis citing data from the Debt Management Office (DMO), Nigeria’s total public debt stood at N159.28 trillion as of December 31, 2025. That translates to an average debt burden of about N724,000 per citizen. My share of that burden as a citizen of this economically battered country is even higher. Yet bandits demand to be paid billions and trillions in ransom.

The University of Jos student in the viral video was told to pay N30 million. Bandits who abducted 16 residents of Gonin Gora, Kaduna metropolis, demanded N40 trillion, 11 Hilux vans, and 150 motorcycles for their release. Bandits who raided a church in Eruku, in Ekiti LGA of Kwara State, demanded N100 million for each worshipper taken.

In Woro, Kaiama LGA of Kwara State, they demanded N20 million for each of the 176 abducted people. Do the math: that’s N3.52 billion. In the Kankara area of Katsina State, where more than 15 residents were abducted, the demand for their release was N150 million.

No one should think only families whose loved ones are in kidnappers’ dens are obligated to pay ransom. In Tinubu’s Nigeria, some people still have to pay bandits not because they have been kidnapped, but to avoid being kidnapped. For instance, bandits have threatened to attack three communities in Kankia LGA of Katsina State if their demands are not met. They demanded 700 cows and 1,000 sheep from residents.

We learnt that in some villages in Katsina State, heads of households — husbands — leave their homes at night so bandits can rape their wives, and return only after daybreak when the bandits are expected to have left. It is not that the villagers are immoral beasts. It is only because that is the only means available to protect themselves. These villagers are Muslims. This is what their lives have become under the “Muslim-Muslim” government.

As I write, gunmen reportedly abducted JAMB candidates and other passengers in Benue. Their only offense? Being Nigerian citizens who want to be educated.

What is painful is that these bandits are known, unlike the “unknown gunmen” in the South. According to Dr. Ahmad Gumi, the government knows each of them by name and address. They use Nigeria’s internet to upload videos of their atrocities. They use Nigerian phone lines to negotiate ransom with victims’ families. Do we really need Gumi to tell us the government knows them?

Dear President Tinubu and the 36 state governors, the 2027 campaign cannot be based on promises. It will be based on performance, measured largely by your ability to stop these senseless kidnappings and killings. We need to be secure to cast our votes. The promise of security “two weeks after the election” by Akpabio — or is it a prophecy? — is outright rejected. We are tired of sleeping with both eyes wide open, yet still unsafe. The country is bleeding, and it cannot continue to plead. Yet the Federal Government is about to reintegrate 744 former terrorists into society.

I have concluded: we are unlucky people. Let’s pray for peace, since we cannot work to achieve it.

Abdulkadir Salaudeen

salahuddeenabdulkadir@gmail.com