"Former defence chief Irabor says some politicians fund Nigerian terrorism."

General Lucky Irabor (retd.)

Former Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Lucky Irabor (retd.), has claimed that some of the country's politicians are taking advantage of—and even encouraging—insecurity just to get ahead politically. He cautioned that Nigeria’s security problems are far too complicated to be blamed on one thing alone.

General Irabor said this during a TV interview on Monday, where he broke down the various types of crime causing violence throughout Nigeria.

His remarks follow closely after presidential aide Daniel Bwala said the Federal Government was getting ready to publicly name the people financing terrorism.

Speaking about how complex Nigeria's security situation is, Irabor advised against lumping all violent incidents together.

He explained that the country faces several different security threats at the same time: ideological, criminal, political, and economic.

“You can’t hold people for their views, but the reality is that our issues in terms of security challenges are multifaceted,” he said. 

“Just as we have terrorists who have an ideology, we equally have those who are bent on targeting Christians, and there are also those who are targeting communities, desiring to displace communities and wanting to stay in those communities to be able to have a voice.”

He explained that the various violent groups—such as terrorists, bandits, those who force people out of their homes, and financial criminals—all have different reasons for what they do, making the crisis hard to simplify.

“If you lump the entire thing into one, the analysis would be wrong,” he said.

Addressing claims that insecurity is purely political, the former defence chief acknowledged that while political motives exist, they do not account for all incidents. 

“Those who say it is political, that would also be lumping all the issues to say all other issues do not matter — that’s also not correct,” he said.

He did, however, admit that some politicians have used the lack of security for personal gain.

“That does not mean some politicians have not taken advantage of the insecurity to perhaps gain some sort of leverage; to give the impression that they can do better,” he said.

“Others perhaps want to score a point that there’s poor governance; they could also instigate crisis in one way or the other,” he added.