The Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum (SMBLF) has strongly criticized President Bola Tinubu’s administration over the escalating insecurity across the country, particularly in the Middle Belt region, calling for urgent and decisive action to safeguard lives and property.
In a communiqué released on Thursday in Akure, Ondo State, and jointly signed by Oba Oladipo Olaitan (Afenifere), Dr. Bitrus Pogu (Middle Belt Forum), Senator John Azuta-Mbata (Ohanaeze Ndigbo), and Ambassador Godknows Igali (PANDEF), the group expressed deep concern over the federal government’s apparent inability to tackle persistent violence and killings, especially in Benue State.
According to the communiqué, the Federal Government and the National Assembly have failed in their fundamental constitutional duty to provide security for citizens. The leaders condemned what they described as the unchecked impunity of armed Fulani herdsmen and their foreign collaborators, whom they accused of carrying out genocidal attacks on indigenous communities.
“The Federal Government of Nigeria and particularly the National Assembly must now acknowledge their failure to guarantee the most basic responsibility—security of life and property—across the country,” the statement read. “We continue to witness the impunity of Fulani terrorists and their foreign partners as they unleash genocidal violence on indigenous populations, especially in the Middle Belt.”
The Forum called on President Tinubu and federal lawmakers to urgently fulfill their constitutional mandate, warning that continued inaction could plunge Nigeria into anarchy.
To address insecurity at the grassroots level, the SMBLF proposed far-reaching reforms, including:
Greater autonomy for federating states, allowing each to establish independent police commands with corresponding divisions at the local government and community levels.
Deployment of police officers from the rank of Chief Superintendent and below strictly within their state of origin to ensure greater accountability and cultural sensitivity.
The group also rejected the proposed creation of a National Forest Guard under federal control, arguing that forests and lands fall under the constitutional jurisdiction of states. They insisted that all security formations—except for the armed forces, police, civil defence, and State Security Services—should fall within the security framework of state governments.
The Forum criticized the “fire-brigade” deployment of military forces to volatile areas, calling it unsustainable and detrimental to the military’s primary role of defending the nation’s territorial integrity.
“Pending a full restructuring toward true federalism, states should urgently adopt security initiatives similar to the Amotekun Corps in the Southwest. These outfits must be fully equipped and empowered to deter terrorism and insurgency effectively,” the statement added.
The leaders warned that Nigeria’s current centralised security model undermines state governors, who are only nominally recognized as Chief Security Officers of their states.
They urged President Tinubu and the National Assembly to treat insecurity as a national emergency and implement structural reforms before the country slides into what they described as “the image of a banana republic or a failed state.”
In a final note of warning, the SMBLF declared:
“These proposals represent the bare minimum. Should the government continue to ignore this carnage, we may have no choice but to advise our people to take their destinies into their own hands and seek self-defence by any means necessary.”
