Nigeria’s Security Collapse: A General Falls While Politicians Play Emperor

DDNews Editorial By Ogungbayi Adeyemi Beedee
Adeyemi@ddnewsonline.com

Yesterday, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) released a chilling execution video of Brigadier-General M.A. Uba, the former Commander of 28 Task Force Brigade, Baga, who was ambushed and captured in Borno State last week. A senior officer of brigadier-general rank one of the highest field commanders Nigeria has lost in this 15-year insurgency was beheaded on camera while politicians in Abuja were busy deploying police anti-riot squads and armoured vehicles to protect rival PDP factions fighting over chairs at Wadata Plaza.

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That grotesque contrast tells the entire story of a nation that has abandoned its people.While a general’s blood still stains the sands of the North-East, police trucks that should be escorting military convoys to Sambisa Forest are parked outside party secretariats and private mansions settling land disputes for ministers and governors. While thousands of Muslims and Christians are slaughtered weekly by bandits in Zamfara, Kaduna, Plateau, and Benue, the Nigeria Police Force has become the personal bodyguard service of the political elite deployed to intimidate journalists, seal opposition offices, and provide muscle for land grabbers in Lagos, Port Harcourt, and Abuja.

The statistics are no longer shocking; they are numbing. Over 1,200 Nigerians were killed by terrorists and bandits between July and September 2025 alone (SBM Intelligence). More than 63 soldiers and officers have died in the last 90 days. ISWAP and Boko Haram now collect taxes in 11 local government areas. Bandits operate WhatsApp customer-care lines for ransom negotiations. Yet the political class is preoccupied with 2027 succession battles, doling out billions to buy defections while troops fight with refurbished rifles and no air cover.

This is not just a failure of leadership; it is a deliberate choice. Every naira diverted to sponsor political thuggery, every police battalion tied down guarding ex-governors and settling chieftaincy disputes, every helicopter used to ferry musicians to campaign rallies is a bullet not purchased, a drone not acquired, a soldier left exposed. The execution of Brigadier-General Uba is therefore not an isolated tragedy it is the logical end point of a system that values political survival above citizens’ lives.

As 2027 approaches, the same politicians who cannot secure a single local government from bandits are already junketing across the globe, hiring lobbyists and printing posters. They will spend trillions on elections while military barracks remain without electricity and widows of fallen soldiers queue for handouts. They will promise “renewed hope” while renewing only their own mandates.

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Nigerians must refuse to play along this time. The way forward is painfully clear, but it demands courage we have never shown as a people:
1.Total overhaul of security architecture before 2027: Immediate sack of all service chiefs who have overstayed their failures, Establishment of state police with iron-clad constitutional safeguards and Creation of a special anti-banditry military command with its own budget line, independent of the regular defence vote that politicians raid at will.
2.Zero tolerance for misuse of security forces. Any governor or minister who deploys police or military for private or political purposes must face immediate sanction and prosecution. The Inspector-General of Police must publish quarterly reports of all detachments guarding VIPs Nigerians deserve to know how many policemen are guarding one politician while villages burn.
3.Funding that matches the emergency: Redirect 2026 election campaign funds (already being stockpiled) into a transparent National Security Trust Fund supervised by respected retired generals and civil society, not politicians.
4.A new social contract in 2027: Voters must reject every candidate presidential, gubernatorial, or legislative who cannot show verifiable progress on security in their current or previous domain and our Youth and women movements must produce a unified “Security First” charter and make it the only condition for their votes. No charter, no vote.
5.Hold the military accountable too, The era of “gallant efforts” excuses is over. Any commander who loses territory to terrorists must be court-martialled in public. Sacrifice must be demanded at the top, not just from the private dying in the bush.

Brigadier-General Uba did not die because ISWAP suddenly became stronger; he died because Nigeria’s priorities are upside down. Until we put the lives of citizens above the ambitions of politicians, more generals, more farmers, more school children, more travellers will keep dying.
2027 is not just another election. It is a referendum on whether Nigeria still deserves to exist as one country. If we allow the current crop of leaders to rig, buy, or intimidate their way back into power while our security collapses, then we the citizens not the bandits, not ISWAP would have executed the final coup on the Federal Republic.
The blood of that brigadier-general cries out today. Let it be the last wake-up call we ignore at our peril.
Enough is enough. Secure Nigeria first, or there will be no Nigeria left to govern in 2027.