Former Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Gen. Lucky Irabor (retd.), has revealed that some Nigerian politicians are exploiting or even fueling insecurity to gain political advantage. He made the disclosure during an interview on Channels Television on Monday, where he examined the complex layers of criminality behind violence across the country.
Irabor warned against oversimplifying Nigeria’s insecurity, stressing that the crisis is driven by multiple motives — ideological, criminal, political and economic. According to him, violent actors such as terrorists, bandits, community displacers and economic criminals operate simultaneously, each with different agendas.
“You can’t hold people for their views, but the reality is that our issues in terms of security challenges are multifaceted,” he said. “Just as we have terrorists with ideology, we also have those targeting Christians, and others targeting communities to displace them and take over.”
He emphasised that grouping all violent incidents under a single category leads to poor analysis, noting that insecurity in Nigeria is not solely political. While some incidents have political undertones, he said others stem from criminal or ideological motives.
Irabor, however, acknowledged that certain politicians are taking advantage of the insecurity to score political points or portray government as ineffective. “That does not mean some politicians have not taken advantage of the insecurity to gain leverage,” he added. “Others may instigate crises to suggest poor governance.”
His comments came barely 24 hours after presidential aide Daniel Bwala disclosed that the Federal Government was preparing to publicly name individuals financing terrorism.
