The Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum (SMBLF) has publicly expressed its displeasure with the worsening security situation across Nigeria, particularly in the Middle Belt region. The group has urged President Bola Tinubu to take decisive action to protect Nigerians, warning against allowing the country to become a “banana republic.”
In a communique issued on Thursday in Akure, Ondo State, and signed by notable figures such as Oba Oladipo Olaitan (Afenifere), Dr. Bitrus Pogu (Middle Belt Forum), Senator John Azuta-Mbata (Ohanaeze Ndigbo), and Ambassador Godknows Igali (PANDEF), the forum criticized the Federal Government’s failure in providing adequate security.
“The Federal Government of Nigeria and particularly the National Assembly must now accept their failure to provide the most fundamental security of life and property across the country whilst we witness the impunity of Fulani terrorists and their foreign collaborators wrecking genocidal attacks on indigenous communities across the nation and particularly in the Middle Belt region as happening currently in Benue State,” the statement read.
The forum called on the President and the National Assembly to rise to their constitutional responsibility to protect lives and property. To achieve this, the SMBLF recommended that Nigeria’s federation should grant enhanced autonomy to states, allowing each to have its own independent police command with divisions at local government and community levels. It also suggested that police officers below the rank of Chief Superintendent be deployed within their states of origin.
Rejecting the creation of National Forest Guards as a federal security force, the group argued that security institutions outside the military, police, civil defence, and State Security Services should be integrated into state security architectures, especially since land and forests fall under the exclusive jurisdiction of federating states.
The forum condemned the use of the armed forces in a “fire-brigade” manner to address security challenges, describing it as ineffective and detrimental to the military’s core responsibility of defending Nigeria’s territorial integrity.
Until full restructuring and true federalism are achieved, SMBLF urged state governments to take immediate steps to secure their populations, citing the Amotekun South West Security Network as a model. They called for these local security outfits to be fully equipped to counter insurgency and terrorism, highlighting that the current unitary security system renders governors mere nominal Chief Security Officers.
The communique ended with a stark warning: “These proposals should be the irreducible minimum as the alternative to calling out the people to take their destinies in their hands and procure instruments of self-defence from wherever possible if this carnage persists.”
This call to action highlights the urgent need for security reforms as Nigeria grapples with persistent violence and insecurity.