The Northern Elders Forum (NEF) has urged President Bola Tinubu to immediately declare a “state of emergency” in northern Nigeria, warning that the escalating killings, abductions, and violent attacks now pose a grave threat to the nation’s stability and regional security.
In a communiqué issued on Wednesday and signed by its spokesperson, Prof Abubakar Jika Jiddere, the forum accused Nigeria’s security agencies of being overstretched, under-resourced, and in some cases complicit through silence and inaction, leaving millions of citizens vulnerable while eroding public trust in government.
The elders cited several recent atrocities, including the August 19 massacre at a mosque in Unguwan Mantau Village, where gunmen killed at least 27 worshippers during early morning prayers, displacing hundreds of families.
They also condemned the execution of 35 abductees in Zamfara State despite ransom payments, and the attacks in Kaduna’s Kauru and Kudan LGAs, which left eight people dead and several others severely injured.
“These incidents are not isolated. They are part of a persistent pattern of organised criminal violence and banditry that have claimed thousands of lives, displaced hundreds of thousands, crippled economic activity, undermined food security, and inflicted deep social and psychological trauma on communities,” Jiddere said.
NEF noted that by failing to secure citizens, the Nigerian government is breaching both the 1999 Constitution and international treaties such as the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which guarantee the right to life.
“The recurring atrocities in Northern Nigeria constitute serious breaches of these obligations, and in their scale and persistence, will amount to crimes against humanity under international law,” the statement warned.
The forum demanded that Tinubu’s administration: Declare a state of emergency in the North; Deploy adequately trained and equipped security forces with clear rules of engagement to protect civilians and secure border regions; Compensate and rehabilitate victims and displaced persons in line with international humanitarian standards; Strengthen border control and regional cooperation with ECOWAS and the African Union to check cross-border bandit incursions and Engage international partners, including the UN and AU, for technical, security, and humanitarian support.
NEF warned that failure to act “decisively, transparently, and urgently” would worsen human suffering, jeopardise Nigeria’s democratic stability, and threaten peace across West Africa.
The forum pledged to keep monitoring the situation while mobilising stakeholders locally and internationally to ensure relief and protection for northern communities ravaged by insecurity.
