Surrender now or face full force, Tinubu warns terrorists, bandits

President Bola Tinubu on Friday issued one of his strongest warnings yet to terrorists, bandits, kidnappers and their sponsors, declaring that the Federal Government would show no mercy to those responsible for violence and insecurity across the country.

Speaking during his 2026 Democracy Day address, Mr Tinubu said criminal groups operating in Nigeria had a choice between surrendering and facing intensified military action, warning that the government’s current policy of accepting repentant fighters would not remain open indefinitely.

“To bandits, kidnappers, and sponsors of terror: Surrender or face the full force of the Nigerian State. These windows of surrender will not remain open forever. No mercy will be shown to those who trade in the blood of Nigerians,” the President declared.

The warning came as Tinubu highlighted what he described as significant gains in the country’s counter-terrorism campaign, including the degradation of an ISWAP command centre in Arege, Borno State, and the neutralisation of more than 13,000 terrorists in the past year.

According to him, Nigeria’s security architecture has shifted from conventional military training programmes with international partners to precision-targeting operations aimed at dismantling terrorist networks.

The President also disclosed that terror-related deaths have fallen by 81 per cent since 2015, while more than 124,000 fighters and their dependants have surrendered through Operation Safe Corridor since 2023.

Despite the reported gains, Mr Tinubu acknowledged that insecurity remains a major challenge, citing the recent abduction of children in Oyo and Borno states as incidents that had cast a shadow over this year’s Democracy Day celebrations.

“Democracy without security is not solid enough,” he said.

To strengthen security efforts, the President said his administration had declared a security emergency, approved the recruitment of more than 50,000 police officers and thousands of military recruits, and allocated N5.41 trillion to defence and security in the 2026 budget—the highest security allocation in Nigeria’s history.

Mr Tinubu also cautioned Nigerians against politicising insecurity or attributing criminality to any ethnic group, insisting that national unity remained essential to defeating terrorism and violent crime.

“Crime has no ethnicity. We must stand united and be assured that the enemies of our nation shall soon be history. We will triumph over terror and continue to build a more prosperous nation,” he said.

The President’s remarks underscore a tougher posture by the Federal Government against violent criminal groups, even as authorities continue to combine military offensives with deradicalisation and reintegration programmes for repentant fighters.