The Minister of Defence, General Christopher Musa (retd.), says the fight against terrorism, banditry and insurgency stays hard because criminal groups get active help from their sponsors and some members of the public. He made the remarks on Friday at the 2026 edition of The Platform Nigeria, the annual Democracy Day discourse, monitored on Channels TV and hosted by Pastor Poju Oyemade.
Musa warned that terrorists and bandits lean on local helpers for food, information, logistics and money, which keeps them alive in communities. He said real progress will only come if citizens refuse and expose those who aid criminals.
“Everything revolves around the people. If the people are ready and willing to make changes, changes will occur. If the people are not willing, nothing will happen.
“I can tell you that with what is going on with the challenges we have in the country — banditry, insurgency and terrorism — why does it seem so difficult to deal with them? Perhaps, we have people who are also encouraging and supporting these things because the terrorists and bandits survive among the people.
“There are several stories of how people have aided them by giving them food, water and information, and these are the things that keep them going. We call this the oxygen. Who are those funding them? Who are those giving them information? Who are those providing the logistics that keep them going? It is still the people.”
He noted modern security threats often come from people inside the communities they target. “Conventional warfare in the past used to be state-to-state, country-to-country, so you know who your enemy is. The most dangerous aspect of battles or campaigns is when the enemy is within. That individual whom you are protecting may be the number one enemy trying to take you out immediately he gets the chance,” he stated.
Musa added: “It is important for us to always remember that the armed forces and the security agencies, no matter what they do, if the people are not ready to support them, it makes the task extremely difficult.”
“We must continue to work in unity because it is these gaps that exist between us that these individuals see and try to widen in order to separate and divide us, and we must not let that happen,” Musa said.
Former Senate President Bukola Saraki warned about a meek legislature and urged independence. “A legislature that cannot say no is not a legislature at all. A legislature that simply receives executive proposals, approves them without scrutiny and goes home has not fulfilled its constitutional mandate. It has merely performed a ceremonial function,” he said.
“The independence of the National Assembly is not rebellion against the government of the day. If the National Assembly is independent, it is the very thing that makes the government legitimate because a mandate that is never tested is a mandate that no one can trust,” he added.
