FG Has Lost Grip on Northern Security – Olawepo-Hashim

Former presidential candidate Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim says the Federal Government has effectively lost operational control over security in Northern Nigeria, following fresh terrorist attacks in Kwara and Kebbi states.

In a statement issued to journalists in Kaduna on Wednesday, Olawepo-Hashim said the recent incidents, including the killing of two security personnel in Rogun Village, Kpada District of Patigi LGA, Kwara State, show that terrorists are now operating across the North “without fear of the state.”

According to him, terrorists stormed a police outpost in Rogun on Sunday night and engaged officers in a lengthy gunfight before overrunning the facility. The attack came just days after 25 schoolgirls were kidnapped and a vice principal killed in Kebbi State, along with the murder of a senior Customs officer in Bagudo LGA.

“These coordinated attacks are clear signs of a nation sliding toward total collapse,” Olawepo-Hashim said.
“From Niger to Zamfara, Kaduna to Plateau, Bauchi to Kebbi, and now Kwara, terrorists are dictating the pace of life in too many communities. The Federal Government has lost control.”

He described the Patigi attack as particularly troubling, noting that the Middle Belt had long been regarded as relatively secure. The latest events, he warned, signal a dangerous spread of terrorism and highlight “a total failure of intelligence and policing.”

“What we are witnessing is a quiet surrender of northern Nigeria to non-state actors. Rural communities are under siege. Schools are unsafe. Police posts have become battlegrounds. This is not governance; this is abandonment,” he stated.

Olawepo-Hashim also cited reports of a serving military general being ambushed after terrorists allegedly intercepted his communication, saying the incident shows that insurgents now possess “advanced capabilities and extraordinary daring.”

“If terrorists can attack a police outpost in Kwara and kill officers without consequences, what hope is left for villagers? If 25 girls can be abducted in Kebbi without swift rescue, what is left of the meaning of government?” he asked.

He further stressed that effective state authority is now largely confined to state capitals, while “vast rural territories have fallen under the shadow of armed groups.”

“Outside the state capitals, sovereignty is collapsing. Villages are ruled by fear, by bandits, by terrorists. The silence from those in power amounts to complicity. Many villagers now pay taxes to terrorists,” he lamented.

Olawepo-Hashim condoled with families affected by the Kwara and Kebbi attacks and called for an urgent national response, including a radical restructuring of Nigeria’s security architecture.

“Unless drastic steps are taken immediately, Nigeria risks plunging into a new and uncontrollable phase of disintegration,” he warned.