Idris: Let’s Unite and Jointly Fight Insecurity

Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, yesterday urged Nigerians to unite and close ranks in the face of worsening insecurity in the country.

He stressed that only a united front could defeat the forces threatening the nation’s peace and stability. He also clarified that at no point had the federal government denied the killing of Christians by bandits and terrorists in some parts of the country.
Idris, said this during an interview on a national television where he shared insights on the designation of Nigeria as a ‘Country of Particular Concern’ by the President of the United States, Donald Trump.

“We need to come together as a people. This is not the time to divide ourselves; this is the time for unity and for us to come together, so that we can fight this once and for all,” he said.
The minister added: “The government has never denied that people have not been targeted or people have not been killed. You recall that the president was in Yelwata when the issue of the devastating killings happened.
“The point we are making is that we have never said people are not being killed or that Christians are not being killed. The government would never say that. “But the point that is being made is that characterising this as an attempt to exterminate one particular religion is not true.

“These same people are killing people in their mosques, chanting ‘Allah Akbar.’
“If you go to Benue, Plateau State, where you have predominantly more Christians, you know historically there have always been tension.

“So, what we are saying is that it is a combination of factors. The drivers of this conflict are not just one. There are many drivers. We have religion as part of it, we have economy, social, ethnic and we have common criminality.”
Idris explained that in spite of the challenges, the government had made a lot of progress in the fight against insurgency and banditry by neutralising over 13,500 of the criminals while over 17,000 of them had been apprehended from May 2023 to date, while some of them had also been sentenced by the courts, including some of the leaders of Ansaru, who were also declared wanted by the American government.

Furthermore, the Minister explained why the government had not released the list of terror financiers in Nigeria suspected to be mainly highly placed and politically exposed individuals, considering that previous administration claimed it had compiled the list of the terror funders in the country, saying it was not a simple process.
“Unfortunately, when you’re fighting this kind of battle, it’s not something that you just sort out within a day or two, and that is why all the time we are calling on our partners within and outside this country.

“Let them understand the complexity and the diversity of the situation that we have in this country. Listen to the congressional hearing that we had yesterday (Thursday). We had a lady there who understands how Nigeria works.
“I mean, telling the American Congress that you don’t just simplify this, and then there is an opportunity, even in this pronouncement by President Trump, and that is why the government of Nigeria is saying, let’s also go there and meet them and discuss, and in some cases, enlighten them about some of the things that are happening in this country.

“The Nigerian government is working seriously, ensuring that we bring an end to this,” Idris said.
Idris also stressed the difficulty in identifying the killers of innocent Nigerians, saying fighting banditry and insurgency is not a conventional warfare as the perpetrators come into places where there is large concentration of soft targets and largely unarmed people and commit the crime and run away.

He dispelled the narrative that many Nigerians felt the government had poorly handled the security situation, saying if the President felt that everything was going well, there would not have been need to rejig the security apparatus, including removing the service chiefs.

He assured that the diplomatic engagements with the American government had not severed, stressing that it was necessary for Nigeria to engage the Americans so as to have a better understanding of the security situation in the country.
Idris said: “What we feel is that there is no proper understanding of what the situation is on the side of the Americans,” adding that this was why the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Rabadu, led some government officials on a security and diplomatic conversation with the United States officials to deal with the matter, particularly the designation by President Trump.