{"id":4092,"date":"2026-05-20T07:04:37","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T07:04:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/1nationmedia.com\/?p=4092"},"modified":"2026-05-20T07:04:41","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T07:04:41","slug":"beyond-boko-haram-nigerias-expanding-crisis-of-lawlessness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/1nationmedia.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/20\/beyond-boko-haram-nigerias-expanding-crisis-of-lawlessness\/","title":{"rendered":"Beyond Boko Haram: Nigeria\u2019s expanding crisis of lawlessness"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Nigeria\u2019s deepening insecurity crisis is no longer simply a battle against Boko Haram. Across large parts of the country\u2019s north, armed bandit networks, governance failures and allegations of military corruption are fuelling a wider collapse of state authority, leaving millions trapped between criminal violence and weak institutions<\/strong>, writes Neelam Rahim.<\/em><\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What was once framed primarily as a counterinsurgency conflict has evolved into something far broader and more dangerous: a decentralised landscape of kidnapping, extortion, cattle theft and territorial control, particularly across north-west and north-central Nigeria. In many rural areas, armed groups now operate with near impunity, exploiting the absence of effective governance and the inability of authorities to protect vulnerable communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Good Governance Africa<\/a>, parts of north-central Nigeria are experiencing \u201ca dangerous convergence of governance paralysis and spiraling insecurity,\u201d with communities increasingly exposed to repeated attacks while local authorities struggle to respond. The organisation noted that state institutions in several affected regions are becoming increasingly unable to guarantee security, allowing armed networks to expand their influence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The crisis has become particularly severe in Benue, Plateau, Zamfara and Katsina states, where villages have faced repeated raids, mass displacement and ransom kidnappings. Residents frequently accuse security forces of arriving too late, failing to intervene, or disappearing entirely when attacks occur. For many communities, daily life is now shaped less by confidence in state protection and more by survival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond Boko Haram: Nigeria\u2019s expanding lawlessness<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Researchers increasingly argue that much of the violence in northern Nigeria is no longer driven primarily by religious ideology. While Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) remain active, large sections of the conflict have evolved into organised criminal enterprises built around coercion, extortion and territorial dominance.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Troops from Operation Desert Sanity uncover the crash site of a missing military fighter jet in northeast Nigeria. (Photo: Nigerian Army)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

A Good Governance Africa report on the Lakurawa network<\/a> warned that what began as a cross-border armed movement had \u201ctransformed into criminal predatory governance,\u201d shifting away from ideological objectives toward systems of violent taxation and community control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bandit groups now routinely impose levies on villages, seize livestock, abduct civilians for ransom and block agricultural activity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In many rural communities, farmers are unable to cultivate land without paying armed groups for permission or protection. The resulting instability has disrupted food production, accelerated displacement and undermined already fragile local economies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Council on Foreign Relations has described the situation as an \u201cepidemic of lawlessness\u201d<\/a>, warning that Nigeria\u2019s inability to restore authority across large parts of the north risks entrenching long-term instability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the state becomes part of the crisis<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The violence has also intensified scrutiny of Nigeria\u2019s military and security institutions. In May 2026, a military operation and separate attacks by armed groups reportedly killed around 100 civilians<\/a> in Zamfara state, triggering condemnation from human rights organisations and local observers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The incident echoed a longer history of allegations against the Nigerian armed forces. Amnesty International <\/a>has documented accusations against both Boko Haram and the military dating back more than a decade. In a submission to the UN Human Rights Council, Amnesty stated that \u201cthe armed group known as Boko Haram and the Nigerian military have committed crimes under international law in the context of the conflict in north-east Nigeria.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The organisation accused Boko Haram of killings, rape, forced marriage and the recruitment of child soldiers, but also raised serious allegations against state forces. Amnesty stated that \u201cmore than a thousand suspects have died in military detention facilities as a result of extrajudicial executions, torture, starvation, disease, suffocation or other reasons associated with extremely poor detention conditions.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n

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Troops from the Nigerian army with a captured Boko Haram flag in Northeastern Nigeria. [Photo: Anadolu Agency]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

One of the most serious incidents highlighted by Amnesty was the March 2014 killing of recaptured detainees in Maiduguri. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the organisation, \u201cNigerian soldiers executed more than 640 recaptured detainees\u201d after they were freed during an attack on Giwa Barracks. Amnesty added that no meaningful prosecutions followed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For many Nigerians, such allegations reinforce concerns that abuses by security forces have persisted for years without accountability, even as the government continues to present the military as central to restoring order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those concerns deepened further in 2025 when authorities detained dozens <\/a>of security personnel over allegations of weapons trafficking. According to media reports, soldiers and police officers were arrested for allegedly diverting arms from military stockpiles and selling them to armed groups operating across northern Nigeria. The arrests intensified public fears that elements within state institutions may be indirectly sustaining the very violence they are tasked with combating. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A crisis of governance<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nigeria\u2019s insecurity crisis increasingly reflects something deeper than isolated security failures. Analysts and opposition figures alike argue that the violence is inseparable from corruption, weak governance, institutional decay and the inability of the state to maintain legitimacy beyond major urban centres. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Any society where lawlessness overrides the rule of law is not destined to be a haven for investors. Recent reports showing that Nigeria\u2019s human rights indicators have worsened merely highlight severe shortfalls in government protection for civil liberties, personal security, and\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/3Dn2UZlPKq<\/a><\/p>— Peter Obi (@PeterObi) June 24, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote>