After Christmas Day airstrikes by the U.S. military on Isis-linked terrorist bases in Sokoto State, Nigeria, government officials have promised to renew their fight against Islamist violence.
But armed terrorists 550 kilometers south, in Niger State’s Borgu Local Government Area, were not deterred. According to Abuja’s Arise local news network, they killed 40 people and injured scores more in a January 3 attack at the Kasuan Daji market.
Niger State Police spokesman Wazil Abiodun confirmed two days later that the terrorists set the market ablaze and shot sporadically into the crowds. He said that security forces were pursuing the attackers to rescue a number of persons who had been kidnapped, but did not specify how many were missing.
The large-scale attack posed many questions for commentators and analysts. Many asked how security forces could have failed to intercept the group, and wondered if they were local to the area or had traveled all the way from Sokoto State.
“Enough talk. Tinubu’s security emergency must hit hard and fast,” Adeola Fayehun wrote on X. “If kidnappers aren’t crushed and terrorists aren’t hunted relentlessly, these measures are just headlines. Action, not optics, will restore order.”
Borgu, the site of the attack, is just 15 kilometers from Papiri, where insurgents kidnapped over 300 students and teachers from St. Mary’s Catholic Secondary School on November 21.
Niger State’s Commissioner of Education, Hadiza Mohammed, announced the same day as the attacks that schools, which had been closed for fear of violence, are set to reopen on January 12.
“The decision follows a careful scrutiny assessment and extensive consultation with relevant security agencies, in line with the Governor’s unwavering commitment to safeguarding lives while ensuring uninterrupted access to quality education for all children in Niger State,” Mohammed said.
“Yes, the President has declared a nationwide security emergency, but in what way is it different from the earlier directives?” historian Victoria George told TLC. “Has the declaration been backed with political will and action? The common people still don’t feel safe, and for them, nothing has changed; because the bandits are still unleashing mayhem and when the indigenes rise to defend themselves, they are arrested, tortured, put behind bars without trials or, when tried, not given fair hearing or justice.”
George cited the case of Sunday Jackson, a northern Nigerian Christian who was pardoned December 24 after spending 10 years on death row for killing an Islamist attacker in self-defense.
On January 8, Kaduna State’s High Court sentenced Victor Solomon—another Christian who struck back against violence—to death by hanging for his killing of a terrorist.
“The Nigeria of today is not different from the feudal period of the 18th century, where everything goes to the strong. The systematic dispossession of ancestral land of the people from the middle belt, minority groups in north central, northwest are just signs of this phenomenon,” George said.
“Sadly, the Nigerian military and other associated personnel have the ability to end this, but the political will is lacking,” she said.
Michael Aondoakaa, Nigeria’s former justice minister and attorney general, called for the U.S. government to extend airstrikes to Benue State, the site of several high-profile attacks in the Middle Belt region.
“There are terrorists in Benue State. The U.S. airstrikes should have started here before going to Sokoto. The airstrikes are long over due in Benue,” he said at a January 2 stakeholders event in Markurdi, citing last July’s massacre in nearby Yelwata.
Meanwhile, Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubi gave marching orders to security forces after the Niger Stata attack.
“These terrorists have tested the resolve of our country and its people. They must face the full consequences of their criminal actions. No matter who they are or what their intent is, they must be hunted down. In addition, those who aid, abet, or enable them will also be brought to justice,” he wrote on X.
“These times demand our humanity. We must stand together as one people and confront these monsters in unison. We can and must defeat them … deny them any sanctuary. We must reclaim peace for these attacked communities.”
K.C. Nwajei is a freelance journalist based in Nigeria.
