A concerned Nigerian Lawyer has this to say about the country's decay. "I write this not as a politician, not as an activist chasin...
A concerned Nigerian Lawyer has this to say about the country's decay.
"I write this not as a politician, not as an activist chasing clout, but as a Nigerian woman and a lawyer who has spent years listening to broken voices in police stations, prisons, court corridors and mourning homes. What we are witnessing today did not start yesterday. Still, the events of this past Christmas period have once again torn open wounds this country has refused to heal.
The recent U.S. airstrikes in parts of northwest Nigeria did not fall from the sky by accident. They are a loud international verdict on a problem our leaders have watched grow for decades. Terrorism, banditry and insurgency have spread from the northeast to the northwest, the north-central and now threaten every region. Villages are raided, worship centres attacked, commuters abducted, farmers chased from their lands. Yet each government responds with statements, committees and selective silence. When foreign powers step in, it is not because they love Nigeria more than Nigerians do, but because a vacuum was left where leadership should have been.
Voices like Sheikh Ahmad Gumi's, warning against U.S. involvement and insisting on negotiations with armed groups, have raised serious concerns among citizens. Many Nigerians hear these statements not as calls for peace, but as thinly veiled sympathy for men who kidnap schoolchildren, burn homes and slaughter innocents. At the same time, bandit groups openly threaten retaliation, promising more blood if pressure continues. This dangerous dance of terrorists issuing ultimatums while the state hesitates has left ordinary people trapped between guns on both sides.
Across the country, terrorism wears different uniforms. In the northeast, it is Boko Haram and ISWAP. In the northwest, armed gangs and jihadist-linked groups. In the south, violent raids, kidnappings and militarized crackdowns. What unites them is the suffering of civilians and the government's inability or unwillingness to address the roots of the crisis. Poverty, corruption, failed intelligence, porous borders and compromised security structures remain untouched, while citizens bury their dead.
Most painful is the long, deliberate silence of those in power. Communities have cried out for years about killings, maiming, extortion and disappearances. Mothers have protested with empty pots; youths have marched with placards; elders have written petitions. The response is often intimidation. Those who speak too loudly are branded enemies of the state, arrested, detained without trial, or worse. A country where truth is treated as rebellion cannot heal.
As a lawyer, I am deeply troubled by the criminalization of innocent citizens while real perpetrators roam freely. We see young men picked up without warrants, labelled criminals without evidence, and paraded to justify budgets and promotions. Meanwhile, heavily armed attackers move through forests and highways, sometimes negotiating amnesty, sometimes receiving protection that no ordinary Nigerian enjoys. Justice has been inverted.
The continued detention and reported maltreatment of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, alongside many other Biafrans held in different facilities across the country, symbolize this injustice. Whether one agrees with their politics or not, the rule of law demands due process, humane treatment and open justice. Selective application of the law only deepens division and fuels resentment.
Nowhere is this rot more visible than in the operations of the facility known as Tiger Base. During last Christmas, specifically on 24th, 25th and 26th of December 2025, credible reports emerged of mass arrests across the southeast. Homes were raided, people seized without explanation, and families left searching in fear. Detainees are allegedly tortured, extorted and held in degrading conditions, especially those identified as Biafran youths. Christmas, a season meant for mercy and reflection, became a time of anguish for many families whose loved ones remain in custody without charge.
These actions are not rumours whispered in corners; they are stories repeated by victims, lawyers, clergy and human rights observers. The tragedy is not just the abuse itself, but the state's refusal to listen. Complaints are ignored. Investigations are promised and forgotten. Accountability never comes. Instead, fear becomes policy.
As a woman, I think of the wives waiting at home, the mothers who cannot sleep, the children asking why daddy has not returned. As a lawyer, I know that no nation survives when its security agencies become a law unto themselves. As a Nigerian, I am forced to confront an uncomfortable truth many now whisper openly: the structure called Nigeria has failed too many of its people for too long.
Calls for restructuring or even dissolution are no longer coming solely from fringe voices; they stem from decades of lived experience marked by bloodshed, mistrust, and injustice. When a state fails to protect its citizens, cannot guarantee justice, and responds to dissent with brutal force, it is only natural for people to question the very foundation of that state. While this conversation may frighten those in power, remaining silent has cost us more lives than being honest ever will. If international interventions against terrorists conclude without addressing the deeper issues of state violence, selective justice, compromised security, and suppressed voices, then nothing will truly change.
The bombs may stop falling, but the killings will continue on our roads, in our villages, and inside detention centres. Nigeria stands at a crossroads. It can continue to deny, repress and postpone, or it can finally listen to the pain of its people and choose truth, justice and genuine reform. History will remember which path was taken".
As she concluded this beautiful article, I want to ask, which part have you taken for the sake of posterity? I choose the side of Truth.
Written by
Barr. Nwachineke
Edited by
Chidi Ibe
For States Media Team
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