A coalition under the auspices of Concerned Nigerian Leaders has condemned rising cases of insecurity in the country, saying activities of terrorists are resurging and making peace increasingly elusive.

In a statement jointly signed by its zonal leaders, the coalition lamented how the country is officially ?at peace? even when some regions are ?enduring wartime levels of slaughter.?

The statement read, ?We, leaders and citizens drawn from every part of this country ? diverse in ethnicity, faith and political tradition ? come together compelled by a painful truth: our nation is bleeding. We stand silence is complicity, and inaction is betrayal.

?In just two years, Nigeria has recorded at least 10,217 violent killings, according to Amnesty International. These numbers stagger the conscience.

?Parts of Nigeria are enduring wartime levels of slaughter, yet we are officially at peace. The devastation at home is chilling. Benue State alone has witnessed 6,896 killed, over 450,000 displaced, entire local councils hollowed out by fear. Plateau has lost 2,630 lives, its boreholes poisoned, granaries torched, farmers forced to watch harvests rot for fear of ambush on the road to market. Zamfara has seen at least 638 villages sacked, and residents are now paying criminal levies by phone under threat of mass killings.

?Similar horrors persist in Sokoto, Kebbi, Katsina and Niger, where bandits have turned entire districts into fiefdoms. Meanwhile, Boko Haram is resurging in the Northeast, regaining the ability to launch deadly assaults, kill servicemen and even attempt overruns of local governments, as seen in recent attacks on Gwoza, Damboa, Biu and Bama, forcing farmers off their fields and reviving fears of the dark days when the entire country trembled under their shadow. The Southeast, too, is gripped by relentless killings by unknown gunmen, making peace increasingly

Elusive.?

Lamenting what it described as ?national silence?, the coalition noted that the ritual of press condemnation after attacks and return to mundane issues is now a national pastime.

?At its heart, our crisis reveals a brutal fact: the Nigerian state has surrendered its monopoly on the legitimate use of force. New armed groups flourish ? Lakurawa in Sokoto and Kebbi, Mamuda in Kwara, alongside local militias that exploit old grievances. What began as herder and farmer disputes over land and water has morphed into sectarian wars, stoked by military-grade weapons and deep distrust.

?Perhaps the most alarming thing is the national silence. The ritual of press condemnations after each massacre, and the swift return to other mundane issues, is now a national pastime. This is not resilience. It is the slow implosion of a nation and a rot of its conscience.?

The coalition advised that Nigeria should learn lessons from other countries also torn by even deeper divisions but found courage to address the challenges.

?Colombia was once ravaged by guerrillas, cartels and paramilitaries. Its state lost vast territories to terror, a predicament all too familiar to parts of Nigeria today. Change came only when leaders across rival camps acknowledged they had lost control, funded local peace deals, spurred economic renewal, and reformed their security forces. This convergence of national will gradually pulled Colombia back from the brink of collapse.

?Rwanda, haunted by genocide, did not look away from its ethnic wounds. It established grassroots courts to pursue accountability, reintegrated communities, and reformed security institutions to ensure the state?s reach extended to the remotest villages.

?Nigeria, too, bears deep scars of identity ? ethnic, religious, and regional tensions, that demand similar bold, structural confrontations.

?Northern Ireland, after decades of bombings and reprisal killings, only found peace when its elites decided violence could no longer shape the future. They forged power-sharing deals under local and international guarantees, proving even the deepest hatreds can be unwound.

?We must resist the temptation to blame this violence on one group alone. As recent revelations in Katsina, Anambra, Benue and Plateau have shown that, while some of the attackers are foreigners with local collaborators, many of the attackers are Nigerians, sons of the soil, from various communities, who have abandoned kinship for criminality.

?This is a Nigerian problem with Nigerian faces. The challenge is not ethnic, but systemic: poverty, arms proliferation, impunity, injustice, and the erosion of local governance. We must lift the veil of stereotypes and deal with the truth: criminals come from every group; justice must be blind to identity,? It said.

Charting a way forward for the country, the coalition called for the creation of Presidential Task Force on National Security in order to decimate criminal activities ravaging some regions.

?We call on the Presidency, National Assembly, Governors, traditional rulers, religious leaders, security chiefs, civil society, and every Nigerian of conscience: let us forge a new path.

?We propose urgently creating a Presidential Task Force on National Security, with extraordinary powers and a clear mandate to coordinate and execute emergency measures to halt the violence.

?This Taskforce should work directly with the National Security Adviser (NSA) and all relevant security, intelligence, and humanitarian agencies.

It stated, ?Nigeria stands on a knife-edge. Whether we tip into chaos or climb toward peace depends on what we do next. If Rwanda, Colombia, and Northern Ireland can emerge from darker abysses, so can we, if our leaders, across the villa, government houses and Assembly, our palaces, pulpits, and barracks, take the more challenging road of reconciliation, justice, and reform.

?The right of every Nigerian child ? in Bokkos, Gwoza, Maru or Yelwata ? to grow up without fear is not negotiable. History will not judge the bandits. It will judge us who had the power to protect, and either rose to this moment or shrank from it.? (Weekend Trust)

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