Northern media professionals have raised alarm over what they described as a worsening wave of insecurity across Nigeria, warning that killings, kidnappings and attacks by armed groups have intensified since the beginning of 2026.
The concern was expressed on Wednesday by members of the Arewa Broadcast Media Practitioners Forum (ABMPF), who said the situation has become increasingly dire, particularly in Northern communities where banditry and terrorism continue to claim lives and displace residents.
Speaking at a press conference in Abuja, the Chairman of the forum, Abdullahi Yelwa, urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to urgently declare a state of emergency on security across the 19 Northern states.
Yelwa said recent incidents, including the abduction of schoolchildren and the reported death of senior military officer Major General Abubakar Rabe in captivity, had once again highlighted the severity of Nigeria’s security challenges.
“Recent national uproar over the abduction of pupils and teachers in Oyo State and the death of Major General Abubakar Rabe in bandits’ captivity has once again refocused national attention on the scourge of insecurity, which has been on an upward trajectory since the beginning of 2026,” he said.
He lamented that repeated exposure to violence had desensitised many Nigerians, adding that daily reports of attacks, kidnappings and displacement had become a grim routine.
According to him, entire communities have been destroyed or abandoned as residents flee into forests or nearby towns to escape armed groups.
He also described conditions in internally displaced persons (IDP) camps as worsening, noting cases of hunger, malnutrition and preventable deaths among displaced families.
“As media practitioners in the North, we have seen it all. Our reporters daily cover the heinous atrocities of bandits and terrorists,” he said.
“We witness communities gripped by fear, with people fleeing into forests or, in desperation, into rivers for safety.
”We also see death, squalor and despair in IDP camps, where families are starved and children die of hunger and malnutrition, ” he added.
Yelwa recalled that the forum had earlier raised similar concerns at a security summit held in Kebbi State in November last year, warning that insecurity was threatening national cohesion.
He said the situation had deteriorated further in 2026, with coordinated attacks on military formations and repeated violence across several states, including Borno State, Yobe State, Plateau State, Niger State, Benue State, Kogi State, Kwara State, Zamfara State, Kebbi State, Sokoto State, Katsina State and Kaduna State.
The forum called on the Federal Government to immediately declare a security emergency in Northern Nigeria, backed by a clear operational strategy and timeline aimed at reducing violence and restoring stability.
It also urged regional leaders to take greater responsibility in addressing insecurity, stressing the need for communities to identify and expose informants and collaborators aiding criminal groups.
Yelwa further called for a decentralised security strategy and commended proposals for state policing and forest guard units as complementary measures.
He however, argued that only a stronger deployment of conventional security forces to flush out criminals from forest hideouts would enable such initiatives to succeed.
The forum maintained that addressing insecurity requires both government intervention and active participation from local communities, insisting that the culture of passivity must give way to collective responsibility in the fight against violence.
