I am writing this as someone who has watched Nigeria burn slowly for years, long before foreign jets appeared in our skies. The recent US ai...
I am writing this as someone who has watched Nigeria burn slowly for years, long before foreign jets appeared in our skies. The recent US airstrikes against armed groups in the North may have shocked many people. Still, to some of us, it only confirmed what we already know: that the Nigerian state has failed for a very long time, and the world is finally worried.
If the US strikes stop now, I mean, if everything ends with statements and handshakes, then nothing truly changes. The danger is not just the terrorists in the bushes; it is the system that is complicit with the activities of the terrorists and has therefore aided them to attack and succeed all round while the poor masses die unheard.
One troubling side of the genocide committed by these monsters is the open support and pampering they get from the influential politicians. They openly warn against any attempt to attack them. Statements attributed to Sheikh Ahmad Gumi over the years have often been a justification for the activities of the Islamic extremists. Gumi has never bothered about the victims of this cruelty. When a respected cleric like Gumi speaks in ways of excuse or to rationalize the armed groups, it sends a message to the killers that they are well protected and they can go on and on.
It also tells victims that their pain is negotiable. If the international community is serious, such rhetoric must be confronted, not politely ignored. Equally dangerous are the repeated retaliatory threats from bandit groups and jihadist factions whenever pressure is applied. Each time there is a military operation, civilians brace themselves, knowing villages may be attacked in revenge. This pattern has played out for years. People are killed not because they are fighters, but because they are reachable. If foreign intervention does not go far enough to dismantle these groups completely, then half-measures will only invite more bloodshed.
Terrorism itself is no longer limited to one corner of Nigeria. From the Northeast to the Northwest, from the Middle Belt to parts of the South, violence has taken different forms, such as insurgency, banditry, mass kidnapping, ritual killings, and armed raids. This is no longer a “regional problem.” It is a nationwide collapse of security where citizens wake up each day unsure of who will be next. Ending one camp while others flourish is like treating a fever without addressing the infection.
What makes this worse is the long, painful silence of those in power. For decades, communities have cried out about killings, displacement, and daily fear. Governments change, promises repeated, but the graves keep filling. This silence is not accidental; it is a choice. When leaders refuse to acknowledge suffering honestly, they become part of the problem. That silence has done more damage than bullets, because it told the people that their lives were expendable.
Even more painful is how voices of resistance are treated. In Nigeria, speaking up often carries a death sentence, sometimes literal, sometimes through prison, torture, or disappearance. Activists are labelled enemies. Journalists are harassed. Community leaders are hunted. Instead of protecting truth-tellers, the state criminalises them. A country that punishes truth while terrorists are being rewarded.
At the same time, innocent citizens are routinely profiled, arrested, and brutalised, while known criminals roam freely. Young men are stopped, accused, beaten, or detained without evidence. Families sell land and property to secure release. Meanwhile, real terrorists negotiate, receive amnesty, or move openly with weapons. This upside-down justice system has destroyed public trust completely.
The continued detention and reported mistreatment of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is a clear example of selective justice. Whether one supports his views or not, his prolonged incarceration has become a symbol of how the state deals with dissenting voices. Across the Southeast and beyond, many believe that keeping him locked away has only deepened anger and hopelessness, not unity or peace.
Then there is Tiger Base in Imo State, a place many Nigerians now mention with fear rather than safety. Reports of torture, extortion, enforced disappearances, and deaths in custody have circulated for years. Families cry. Survivors whisper. Authorities deny. Nothing changes. Everyone knows. Those in power know. Yet the suffering continues. And the unspoken rule is clear: if you talk too loudly, you may become the next victim.
This is where the question of Nigeria’s continued existence as one country must be faced honestly, not emotionally. For decades, unity has been enforced with force, not consent. Different regions experience the state as either absent or hostile. Terrorism thrives because people no longer believe the system protects them. At this point, insisting on keeping Nigeria together at all costs has become deadly in itself. Peace cannot be forced on people who feel trapped in a structure that keeps failing them.
Dividing Nigeria peacefully, lawfully, and with international supervision will be the only realistic path left to end terrorism and mass violence. Smaller, self-governing nations would be more accountable to their people. Communities could secure themselves without being labelled enemies. Grievances would no longer be buried under a false unity that benefits only the powerful. History shows that forced marriages between nations rarely end well.
If foreign intervention truly aims to save lives, it must support not just military action but also structural change. Ending camps without ending injustice will only delay the inevitable. Continuing to pretend that Nigeria can remain as it is, while bodies pile up, is the greatest lie of all time.
Enough people have already died in silence. Enough lives have been wasted to protect pride and power. If speaking the truth carries risk, then so be it because remaining quiet has proven far more deadly.
Written by
Nwaugwu
Edited by
Chidi Ibe
For States Media Team
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