This article is an edited, expanded and fully updated version of an investigative piece I first published in 2017, at the height of the insecurity, confusion, and national hopelessness that characterised the Buhari administration. At that time, Nigeria was engulfed in violence and uncertainty, and many of the warning signs we highlighted were ignored, dismissed, or politicised.
What was then a rising threat has since transformed into a coordinated ecosystem of violent extremism. The unchecked spread of religious fundamentalism, the infiltration of jihadist ideologies into rural and urban communities, and the subtle expansionist drive of armed groups across territorial lines have collectively reshaped Nigeria’s security landscape beyond recognition.
Eight years later, the realities we cautioned about have not only resurfaced, they have intensified, mutated, and expanded into a national emergency of bewildering proportions. What was once a forecast has now become lived experience. What was once a red flag has now become a full-blown crisis.
This updated version goes deeper into the origins, structures, and evolution of insecurity in Nigeria, tracing the arc from its colonial foundations to the geopolitical power plays shaping today’s chaos. It incorporates new findings, recent events, and long-suppressed historical details necessary for understanding how the country arrived at this dangerous crossroads.
The purpose of this foreword is simple:
To remind readers that insecurity is never accidental, and to reaffirm that Oblong Media will continue to expose the truths many prefer to ignore.
This revised edition is not merely a re-publication, it is a wake-up call, a historical map of Nigeria’s descent, and a challenge to those who still refuse to join the urgent conversation about our collective future.
Nigeria’s insecurity crisis did not erupt overnight. What we are witnessing today, kidnappings, terrorism, banditry, oil theft, separatist agitation, and the collapse of public trust, is the culmination of more than a century of engineered instability, elite failure, foreign manipulation, and decades of ignored warning signs.
This is the story that has never been properly told.
A story of foundations laid long before independence, crises manufactured by both internal and external actors, and a nation that has become the battlefield of competing interests.
Oblong Media investigates the origins, evolution, and current consequences of Nigeria’s insecurity nightmare.
- Colonial Seeds of Violence
- Divide-and-Rule as State Policy.
The British didn’t govern Nigeria, they managed it by pitting nations against each other. Artificial hierarchies were created. Some groups were empowered, others restrained. Suspicion was planted deliberately.
- The Forced Amalgamation of 1914.
Nigeria was not born; it was assembled. Hundreds of autonomous peoples were welded into one unit for the convenience of British economic extraction. No consent, no cohesion, only competition.
- An Unequal Political Structure.
The colonial administration tilted political leverage toward the North while suppressing Southern nationalism. That imbalance still defines modern politics and fuels resentment.
- Violence as Governance.
The colonial state used force, not dialogue. Taxation, land control, and labour were enforced by guns. The police became an instrument of coercion, a culture Nigeria inherited intact.
- Post-Independence Betrayals and the Descent into Coups
- Ethnicised Politics and Manipulated Numbers.
Inflated census figures, rigged elections, and dishonest power-sharing created the toxic environment that sparked the January 1966 coup, Nigeria’s first violent crack in national unity.
- The July Counter-Coup and Revenge Killings.
The counter-coup unleashed mass massacres and deepened ethnic wounds that have remained unhealed for six decades.
- The Biafra War (1967–1970).
The war entrenched militarism. It taught the ruling elite that political problems can be “solved” by force. It also embedded marginalisation policies that birthed future agitations.
- Long Military Rule and Institutional Breakdown
From 1966 to 1999, military regimes destroyed meritocracy, entrenched corruption, militarised civil society, and flooded the streets with illegal arms.
Every pillar of today’s insecurity was shaped in this period.
- Economic Collapse and the Rise of Desperation.
- SAP and the Death of the Middle Class.
The IMF–World Bank Structural Adjustment Programme wiped out savings, gutted wages, collapsed manufacturing, and pushed millions into poverty.
Poverty is not just economic, it breeds crime, resentment, and radicalisation.
- Urban Migration, Cultism and Gangs.
As jobs disappeared, millions migrated into cities without opportunities. Cult groups, robber gangs, and street militias flourished in the vacuum.
- Religious Extremism Emerges.
The Maitatsine uprisings were Nigeria’s first taste of radical fundamentalism. Instead of confronting the ideology, the state pretended it was a “local disturbance.”
The price for that blindness came later.
- Democracy Arrives, and So Does Weaponised Politics.
- Niger Delta Militancy.
Decades of environmental destruction and state neglect exploded into armed resistance. Militants soon realised kidnapping was lucrative. Oil theft became industrial.
Today, Nigeria loses 200,000–400,000 barrels of oil daily.
- Politicians Arm Thugs.
The 1999–2010 era saw the rise of political militias, “youth leaders,” “boys,” and “private armies” funded by politicians. After elections, these groups kept their guns and found new income streams: crime.
- A Corrupt and Impotent Police Force.
Starved of funding, plagued by corruption, and losing public trust, the police became an extortion machine rather than a security institution.
The result was predictable: Nigeria drifted toward lawlessness.
- Modern Terrorism and the Fragmentation of the State
- Boko Haram’s Evolution.
It began as a fringe movement under Mohammed Yusuf. His extrajudicial killing in 2009 turned the sect into a full-blown insurgency. By 2015, Boko Haram had overtaken ISIS as the world’s deadliest terror group.
- Climate-Driven Herder–Farmer Wars.
As desertification pushed herders south, clashes intensified. Add AK-47 proliferation, political shielding, and impunity, a national crisis was born.
- Banditry Becomes a Full Industry.
Northwest bandits now run mini-governments: collecting taxes, controlling forests, abducting students, and negotiating with state actors.
- Separatist Agitations Rise Again.
IPOB gained momentum due to political exclusion, brutal crackdowns, and unresolved post-war grievances. Instead of dialogue, the state repeated the colonial recipe, force.
- Today’s Bewildering Reality: A Country Under Siege.
- Ungoverned Spaces Everywhere.
From Sambisa to Birnin Gwari, from Orlu, Okigwe to the creeks of Bayelsa, armed groups control large territories.
The chaos we see today is not a mystery. It is a predictable outcome of over a century of unresolved conflicts and deliberate political mismanagement, a system designed to fail, maintained by those who profit from instability.
- Kidnapping as an Economy.
SBM Intelligence reports Nigerians have paid over ₦50 billion in ransom in a decade. The real number is far higher.
- Oil Theft as a National Sabotage Syndicate.
Illegal bunkering networks involve militant groups, private contractors, security insiders, and international buyers.
- A Weak Police-to-Population Ratio.
With about 220,000 officers for 220 million people, Nigeria is one of the least-policed countries in the world.
- Foreign Interests at Play.
Multiple world powers now eye Nigeria, for oil, gas, critical rare earth minerals, and geopolitical positioning. Insecurity provides both justification and leverage.
Nigeria has become a marketplace for chaos.
- Conclusion: Insecurity Was Engineered, Not Accidental
The Nigerian insecurity crisis is the final product of:
Colonial political architecture
Ethnic mistrust
Military authoritarianism
Poverty and economic collapse
Corrupt leadership
Climate pressure
Proliferation of arms
Weak institutions
Foreign interference
The question now is whether Nigeria will continue this downward spiral, or finally confront the uncomfortable truths behind its insecurity nightmare.
Oblong Media will keep exposing, analysing, and documenting these uncomfortable truths, because a nation that does not understand its history is doomed to repeat its tragedy.
By Hon. Chima Nnadi-Oforgu
Duruebube Ihiagwa ófó asato
OBLONG MEDIA UNLIMITED 
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