Human rights activist and founder of the Northern Star Youth group, Naja’atu Muhammad, has accused Nigerian politicians of weaponising insecurity by using bandits as political thugs.
Speaking during an interview on Channels Television’s breakfast show – The Morning Brief – monitored by our correspondent on Tuesday morning, Naja’atu linked the rising wave of killings in Plateau State and across the country to what she described as deliberate negligence and manipulation by those in power.
“The common enemy is the government who has refused to give citizens the protection that is their right,” she said. “The common enemy is not the Fulani man or the Berom man. They are both victims. Nobody chose to be where they are. The Nigerian constitution gives everyone the right to live peacefully anywhere.”
Naja’atu did not hold back in her criticism of the political class, stating that some top politicians were not only complicit in the security breakdown but were actively enabling it.
“One of the biggest bandits openly claimed that he is working with people in power. He mentioned their names, but what happened? They are still occupying high positions,” she alleged. “Just recently, during Eid, he slaughtered 15 people like rams while making a video of it.”
The female activist emphasised that the insecurity crisis was not exclusive to Plateau State but it’s a nationwide problem, particularly affecting the northern region.
“You see, the point I’m making is that it doesn’t make any difference to the victims. It doesn’t matter who kills who, whether it is bandits, herdsmen, or IPOB, the victim has been killed. What I’m trying to say is that the government has failed in its most primary responsibility to Nigerians,” she stated.
She also accused politicians of deliberately fueling division along ethnic and religious lines to distract from governance failures.
“So when I talk of divide and rule, politicians have also used these bandits as political thugs, do you know that?, yes, there are political thugs,”
“When they fail to provide education, when they don’t pay salaries for over a year, like what happened during Jang’s tenure as governor, they instigate people to blame ‘settlers’ instead of the real culprits,” she said. “So what I’m trying to say is that the victims and the victimizers have a common enemy, and that enemy is the government.”
She further criticised the role of the media, accusing it of bias in the coverage of victims.
“The media is also part of the problem because they decide which victim to protect and which to victimise,” she said. “We have to make these things very clear, the government cannot continue to lie to us. The reality is that we are all at risk.”
