It was not an interview. It was a private conversation, a rare moment of candour from a sitting governor who, in a hushed tone, admitted what many Nigerians dread to hear: insurgency and banditry may not end soon.

The chat, which began on routine social issues, veered into the thorny subject of insecurity, the monster that has bled the North-East for over a decade, battered the North-West, and is now creeping steadily towards Kwara, in the North Central region. The governor spoke freely, not for the record, but as one who carried a heavy burden. His words were sobering, his fears genuine.

Tribute to Tinubu and Ribadu

Before laying bare the challenges, he was quick to give credit where it was due. He said ?To be fair to President Bola Tinubu, he has done a lot and continues to do more in this fight. Anything the military requests, he approves. He funds them and wants this thing to end.?

The governor extended the same regard to the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu. ?The help we are getting now is from the office of the NSA. Himself and the President are doing their best,? he noted. His tone carried no politics, only respect for the effort being made from the top.

Why, then, are the attacks unending?

The question that refused to leave my mind was as haunting as the stories of the victims themselves: if the President is pouring in funds and the NSA is visibly committed, why do kidnappings rage on? Why do insurgents still strut brazenly in Katsina, Sokoto, Zamfara and now creep ominously towards Kwara? I asked, not just as a journalist, but as a troubled witness to a nation?s slow bleeding, waiting for the governor?s answer.

The governor paused before dropping the bombshell. ?This thing may not end soon. The troops are trying, but they are overstretched. Many have been in the battlefront for too long. They are exhausted. And the people they are facing have heavy weapons too.?

According to him, insurgents were not only resilient but also replenishing their ranks. Admitting that the Military and other security agents were killing these violent non-state actors, he said: ?They are killing them, yes ! But more are joining them,? he lamented.

His words echoed the private confession of another northern governor, who admitted that the fight has dragged on because the forces confronting the bandits were overwhelmed.

From the trenches of Zamfara to the forests of Katsina and Sokoto, he said soldiers who have spent years on the battlefield were stretched to breaking point, while the criminals they faced wield weapons far superior to the pump-action rifles given to local vigilantes and forest guards who complement efforts of government?s security agencies.

Expressing deep frustration over the imbalance in firepower, he asked, ?How do you expect forest guards or vigilantes with pump-action rifles to face insurgents carrying AK-47s?? The mismatch, he warned, was not only dangerous but also demoralizing for those asked to defend their communities.

Calls for aggressive recruitment

Stressing that Nigeria?s Armed Forces were overstretched, grappling with inadequate manpower in the face of mounting security challenges across the country, he suggested that one of the most practical solutions was massive recruitment into the Military and Police to match the sheer number of bandits roaming the forests.

But he was quick to add a sobering caveat ?training new recruits is not an overnight process. It will take at least one year and six months before they are fully ready for deployment,? he said, warning that this long gestation period meant the war, already dragging, could stretch even further.

Bandits not ghosts

He also concurred with the Governor of Zamfara State, Dauda Lawal, who had openly declared that he knew where the bandits were. Intelligence, he stressed, had never been the real challenge, as their hideouts, leaders, and even family backgrounds were well-known to the authorities.

But he reiterated that the real dilemma lay in confronting them with an overburdened military and weary policemen

He said: ?It is true. We know where they are. They can be wiped out, but you need more military troops and more superior weapons to do that.?

Indeed, according to residents of the troubled regions, many of the insurgents are not faceless outsiders but indigenes of the northern states themselves. Their families and relatives are well known within the communities, yet they continue to wreak havoc. This, many argued, makes the fight even more complex, a war where the enemy lives among the people, shielded by familiarity and local ties.

Troops? burden and Incentives

Then came another startling revelation: the war itself has become, for some, a money-making venture. ?Every security agent deployed to battle insurgency state gets some money, daily in some states. Some states pay N5,000 a day to each officer. When people start earning from conflict, it changes incentives. Some would not want it to end, because of what they are getting daily.?

This reality, he explained, complicated the fight. On one hand, security agents are stretched thin and fatigued, while on the other, the allowance system makes insecurity an unintended source of livelihood, one more reason the war drags on.

Operations postponed, villagers Abandoned

Heaving with a sigh of frustration, he continued with the quiet sorrow of one who has seen too many displaced families, too many farmers abandoning their fields, and too many children growing up in the shadow of violence.

He said, ?Sometimes operations are planned with full agreement and funding, only for them to be postponed without clear reasons.? Meanwhile, villagers flee, kidnappers collect ransoms, and bandits regroup. ?It is frustrating,? he said, ?because while we wait, our people suffer.?

For him, State Police remained a possible solution, though controversial. He said ?Some are against it, but it appears that is what will help. If Federal Police are better funded and their numbers increased, they can fight this fight and state police may not be needed. But as it stands, the Military and Police are overstretched, stressed, and tired.?

Hopelessness of a long war

His words painted a picture of a fight dragging into the future with no clear end in sight. Yes, Tinubu is funding the military. Yes, Ribadu is committed. Yes, the Armed Forced, Police and other security agencies are trying. But the enemy is adapting by feeding on the cracks in Nigeria?s overstretched security system.

?This thing may not end soon,? the governor repeated, as though the weight of that truth sat heavily on his chest. And in that moment, it became clear: the war against insurgency is not just a battle of guns and bombs, but a struggle against fatigue, poor numbers, corruption, and the sheer hopelessness that comes when a nation seems unable to shield its own.

This newspaper will not disclose the identity of the governor, respecting the confidentiality of a conversation not granted as a formal interview. But what he shared deserves attention. Behind his guarded anonymity lies a blunt, uncomfortable truth that Nigeria?s fight against insecurity is far from over, and unless urgent, bold steps are taken, it may remain a grim chapter rather than a closing story. (Saturday Vanguard)

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