Recent weeks witnessed events that transformed the already hard times facing many Nigerians into a real trying period. Beginning from cut-throat prices of the hike in the pump price of petrol occasioned by the US/Israel war against Iran to heightened resurgence of terrorists’ activities in parts of the country, life is no longer a sweet song for many Nigerians. Petrol that hither had a stabilized pump price and sold for N890 per liter now sells for between N1,350 and N1,500 per liter. The effect of this on the cost of living including transportation fares for the common people is better imagined.
All these arose when insecurity, once again, continued to heighten after it was believed to have been substantially subdued. In spite of the various military operations in parts of the country, the Boko Haram insurgents are gradually returning in full force in the North-east region of the country especially Borno State. This is even as kidnapping has refused to vacate all the areas it has always held sway. The spate of banditry in North-west and parts of North-central regions of the country keep escalating. Insurgency in the Northeast part of Nigeria is also relocating communities back to Internally Displaced Persons’ (IDPs) camps.
For example, no fewer than 11 soldiers and a police officer were reportedly killed in an ambush by gunmen in the Giro Masa community, Shanga Local Government Area of Kebbi state. This particular attack occurred on Tuesday night March 24, 2026 when security operatives believed to have been operating in the area for some time, traced the gunmen to a construction company yard. Following a tip-off, soldiers were dispatched to secure the site but were ambushed along the way. The police officer and soldiers lost their lives in the attack and two military trucks were set on fire.
As reported by the Daily Trust newspaper, a series of deadly assaults on military formations and highways across Borno and Adamawa states recently left at least 56 soldiers dead and 28 others injured in just three months (January–Mach 2026). On the 4th of January 2026, insurgents ambushed troops along the Damask-Kareto road, killing six soldiers and injuring five. Barely two weeks later, precisely on January 19, a suicide bomber struck in the notorious Timbuktu Triangle in Borno claiming the lives of five soldiers.
These coordinated attacks escalated on January 23, 2026 when eight soldiers were killed in Damask town; followed by another five fatalities in Wajirko village along the Maiduguri-Damboa-Biu road on January 29. In Auno, near Jakana, six soldiers were killed on February 6, 2026. Ten days later, insurgents stormed a military base in Cross Kauwa village in Baga LGA, killing eight soldiers and injuring 23 others in one of the deadliest single attacks in recent times.
Nigerians and even the armed forces have suffered enough casualties from the unending war being waged by terrorists and criminal-minded elements against citizens and the Nigerian state. By their training, Nigerians believe that the country’s military authorities have all it takes to dissipate insurgents and their notorious activities. The recent call on the military by the Sultan of Sokoto and the President-General of the Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, Alhaji Muhammadu Saad Abubakar, to end the prolonged war on insurgents and other criminal elements in the country is apt.
With many of these attacks happening irresistibly, anyone who still believes that the country is not passing through trying moments must be living in a world of self-denial. No doubt, things are not the way well-meaning Nigerians would wish. But again, we must stop politicizing insecurity and all other challenges confronting us as a nation, which in essence, are impeding us from getting to where we want to be as a nation.
While it is important to examine issues from all perspectives, it is also relevant that the spiritual angle is not ignored. Allah (SWT) affirms in the Qur’an that He does not arbitrarily withdraw a favour He has bestowed on a people until they turn rebellious. With the sort of injustices (sometimes with impunity) perpetrated in modern Nigeria, we would not be absolutely right to say that Allah is not angry with us. Allah (SWT) states in Qur’an 8:53 “Because Allah will never change the grace which He has bestowed on a people until they change what is in their (own) souls…”
In the past, some nations were destroyed for a single crime. The people of Prophet Luut (AS) were (according to Qur’an 7:80-84) destroyed with showers of brimstone for indulging in sodomy. The Thamud people were perished in a dreadful earthquake for killing the she-camel of Prophet Salih (AS). Pharaoh and his men drowned in the red-sea for transgressing bounds. Allah (SWT) summarizes these events in Qur’an 29:40 saying, “Each of them we seized for his crime; of them, against some We sent a violent tornado (with showers of stones); some We caught by a (mighty) blast; some we caused the earth to swallow up; and some we drowned (in the waters); It was not Allah who injured (or oppressed) them, they injured (and oppressed) their own souls.”
As we urge the military authorities to end war on insurgents, bandits, and kidnappers, it is also necessary to call on ourselves to fight and defeat the unrighteousness in us. If much of the energy and time dissipated by some individuals at changing the society were directed at changing themselves, it would have served our common interest better. The Prophet (SAW) said “The greatest jihad is the one against self”. A philosopher once said, “At 20, I attempted to change the world; at 30, I attempted to change my country; at 40, I attempted to change my community; at 50; I attempted to change my family; at 60, I find myself trying to change myself.”
Let us strive to live according to the provisions of the Qur’an and the Sunnah of the Prophet (SAW). Let’s try hard to remain righteous in our thoughts, words, and actions. Let us love ourselves and eschew injustice. The rate at which we perpetrate injustice (sometimes with impunity) against fellow human beings in today’s Nigeria is incredibly alarming. When justice rules activities in human societies, Allah’s intervention in their challenges (real and perceived) is readily assured. May Allah (SWT) have mercy on us and grant us necessary interventions in our national challenges, amin.
