How Nigeria Can Attain Lasting Peace – El-Rufai

A former Kaduna State governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, has warned that there can be no lasting peace in the country unless security agencies return to their proper constitutional roles.

El-Rufai said national security is ultimately about protecting Nigerian homes, livelihoods and Nigerian futures and not about preserving the comfort of the temporary occupants of the Presidential Villa.

Taking to his verified Facebook page yesterday, El-Rufai who wrote on the topic “National Security, Justice, and the People’s Wellbeing: Reclaiming the Purpose of Power” maintained that national security does not belong to the President, his family, or their enablers but to the Nigerian people.

According to the former governor, “At this critical juncture in our national life, it is vital that we speak about something that touches every breath we take in this country: security and justice. Not as abstract phrases buried in policy documents, but as the air our children breathe, the peace of our homes, the freedom to move, speak, and live without fear.”

El-Rufai, a chieftain of the coalition African Democratic Congress (ADC) said, “A state that is secure, but whose people live in fear is not secure. A nation whose institutions are armed but hollowed out is not stable. And a republic that protects power but abandons justice is already in decline.

Yet over the past 26 years of our democratic experience, we have watched this noble idea steadily mutate into something narrower, more cynical, and more dangerous. The national security apparatus and the criminal justice system have increasingly been repurposed, not to protect the Nigerian people and the institutions of state, but to protect incumbents, preserve political dominance, and shield incompetence from accountability. This is the central crisis of our national security today.”

He continued, “National Security versus Regime Security. There is a profound and consequential difference between protecting the country and protecting a regime. The state is permanent. Governments are temporary. Institutions endure beyond administrations. Regimes do not.

True national security is about defending the Constitution, safeguarding territorial integrity, preserving public order, protecting lives and property, and ensuring that the machinery of the state functions for the benefit of all citizens—regardless of who holds office. It is the human security of the people in a country and the society in which they function that is ultimately national security.”

“Regime security, by contrast, is about preserving power at all costs. It treats political opposition as an enemy, criticism as sabotage, and dissent as treason. It converts security agencies from neutral guardians of the republic into partisan tools of intimidation. It mistakes loyalty to individuals for loyalty to the state,” he said.

El-Rufai noted, “Nigeria’s prevailing security paradigm today is regrettably closer to the latter. Instead of defining, defending, and advancing our national interest, the system has been reduced to regime preservation—the protection of power for a narrow clique that has conflated its own survival with the survival of Nigeria itself. This is not only morally wrong; it is strategically disastrous.”

“The Misuse of Security Agencies

We have seen, repeatedly and openly, how institutions meant to protect Nigerians have been diverted from that sacred responsibility. The Police, the DSS, the EFCC, the ICPC, and even segments of the judiciary are increasingly perceived—rightly or wrongly—as instruments deployed selectively against those considered politically inconvenient. The lawful mandates vested in these public institutions to target criminals who endanger public safety, drain national wealth or terrorize communities are often distorted into cudgels against opposition figures, perceived critics, or individuals with followership outside the ruling circle.”

The former governor further said, “Friends, family members, associates—real or imagined—are swept into investigative dragnets not because of credible evidence, but because of proximity. This is not law enforcement. It is collective punishment. It is partisan fear wearing the uniform of the state.”

El-Rufai maintained, “When security agencies abandon professional restraint and constitutional neutrality, three things happen:1. Public trust collapses.Citizens stop seeing security agencies as protectors and begin to see them as predators.

“2. Professional capacity erodes.Time, intelligence, and resources are diverted from fighting terrorism, banditry, kidnapping, and violent crime toward political witch-hunts. 3. Institutions become personalised. Officers begin to serve individuals rather than the Constitution, undermining discipline, morale, and long-term effectiveness.

“The Consequences of Persisting on This Path

The consequences of prioritising regime security over state security are neither theoretical nor distant. They are already unfolding before our eyes.”

He stressed that, “First, it weakens the Nigerian state itself. Institutions lose credibility. Laws lose moral force. Orders are obeyed not out of respect, but out of fear. And fear, unlike legitimacy, cannot sustain a nation.

“Second, it deepens insecurity rather than reducing it.When citizens distrust the police and intelligence services, they withdraw cooperation. Intelligence dries up. Criminal networks thrive. Violent non-state actors exploit the resulting vacuum.”