Governors’ apathy toward security

IT is disturbing that, despite the worsening insecurity in the country, which has attracted international attention and intervention, state governors, who have the responsibility for securing their people, are lethargic about tackling it.

The forests are unsafe, the roads are highways of abductions and killings, homes and churches are targets of the bloodthirsty demons. Yet, the governors have no identifiable strategy for securing their people. This apathy is unacceptable.

Curiously, the governors, who are the chief security officers of their states, routinely run to Abuja for intervention after security breaches.

For instance, Governor Caleb Muftwang appeared in Abuja shortly after the mindless Palm Sunday terror attack on Angwan Rukuba, Jos, Plateau State, instead of rallying police and military formations on the ground for a quick response.

Thirty people were massacred during that attack in Jos North, including two University of Jos undergraduates. Two people were later killed in the Kum community in Ryom LGA.

An AI tally arrived at 1,336 killings in the state between December 2023 and February 2024.

This is not new. In April 2014, the then Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State ran to President Goodluck Jonathan in Aso Rock, after Boko Haram abducted 276 schoolgirls at the Government Secondary School, Chibok.

But the governors’ rush to Abuja for “help” after security breaches has received severe condemnation from a former Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni.

Recently, Owoseni said, “… all the governors have what it takes to solve the (security) problem within their domain. Some of our governors, how many days or how many weeks do they even spend in their states? They don’t stay within the community. It is only when they want people’s votes that you see them within their community. Most of them live in the state capital, if they do stay at all.”

Owoseni is on point. State governors must sit up and find creative, innovative and strategic solutions to their states’ peculiar challenges.

About 200 people were killed in Kwara State in February, even as Benue, Plateau and Taraba states have suffered killings and abductions.

Nigeria is ranked fourth globally in the 2026 Global Terrorism Index.

Boko Haram is threatening to relocate the over 400 captives in their custody if their demand for N5 billion ransom is not met.

The violence continues unabated despite the 2025 Christmas Day airstrikes by the United States forces.

Rather than take decisive steps to contain the attacks, governors elect to prioritise their personal security, travelling with armoured SUVs and mind-boggling security convoys and details.

Most of them are obsessed with the 2027 elections.

The governors seem to be hiding behind a constitutional handicap, which makes them chief security officers without control of the federal security apparatus in their states. Many are quick to shift the responsibility to the President and therefore fold their hands while their subjects suffer security breaches.

But the governors are not as helpless or handicapped as they would want Nigerians to believe. Although governors do not control the security agencies in the country’s centralised security system, the performance of some governors in the security sector proves that constitutional handicap is not an excuse for non-performance.

From a state that was notorious for kidnapping, killings and other crimes, Anambra governors since Peter Obi have drastically confronted security challenges in the state, equipping the police with patrol vehicles, motorcycles, gunboats and enacting relevant laws to secure the people.

 Obi fought the kidnappers to a standstill, while Willie Obiano and Chukwuma Soludo built on the initiative.

While Obiano established “Operation Sheba,” Soludo enacted the 2025 Homeland Security Law, which established the “Agunechemba” initiative and empowered them to confront the assailants.

After years of naked violence in Lagos, insecurity was reduced to the barest minimum under Governor Raji Fashola. The governor enhanced the Lagos State Security Trust Fund to complement the Federal Government’s security efforts in the state.

When Funke Olakunrin, the daughter of Reuben Fasoranti, was killed by bandits in July 2019, the then-Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, rallied his South-West colleagues to establish the Amotekun corps, despite the resistance of former President Muhammadu Buhari and his cohorts.

These security initiatives are indications that no governor has any excuse not to secure their people.

Therefore, state governors should follow Anambra, Ondo and Lagos. They should upgrade their vigilance groups, and rally traditional rulers to collaborate with the security agencies to flush out the terrorists from the forests, secure the roads and keep the towns and villages safe.

Governors have military and other security formations in their states. They hold regular security meetings with top officers and commanders. They receive security reports and have the capacity to secure the states. The governors must take advantage of this security setup by providing the right vision, leadership and political will.

They should fund their operations and provide them with technological and operational equipment.

The governors control security votes, but with scanty results since 1999. AI says Nigerian states collected N525 billion annually (2023-2025 data) for security votes, while 21 states allocated N133 billion in 2025 alone.

Instead of utilising the funds to provide security, most of them squander them on second-term campaigns, dubious projects or simply pocket them.

States are critical components of the country’s federalist chain. The country’s security is as strong as the states make it. State governors must therefore wake up and secure their domains in the overall interest of the people.