Adamawa State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Hon. Leader Leneke, has said the security situation across Northern Nigeria has improved significantly, with banditry and insurgent attacks no longer occurring with the frequency experienced in previous years.
Leneke made the assessment on Tuesday while appearing on Frontline, a current affairs programme on Eagle 102.5 FM, Ilese-Ijebu, Ogun State, where he reviewed the performance of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration in the North, particularly in security, agriculture and infrastructure.
The commissioner, however, admitted that the region had not become completely free of attacks, citing a recent incident along the Adamawa-Borno border in which several people were reportedly killed.
He described the attack as particularly painful because of the significant improvement recorded in the state’s security environment in recent times.
“About yesterday, we had some little security breach in Adamawa along the borderlines of one of our local government areas with Borno State. The insurgents encroached into some parts of some of our communities and quite a number of people lost their lives, unfortunately,” Leneke said.
“It is a very sad and painful situation because we thought for a while we had gone past this phase, this stage, because we’ve not been experiencing that,” he lamented.
Despite the latest incident, Leneke maintained that it would be misleading to judge the entire security situation in the North solely by isolated attacks.
He said the Tinubu administration inherited a security crisis characterised by kidnappings, insurgency, banditry, attacks by unknown gunmen and persistent clashes between farmers and herders.
“In terms of security, before the coming of the present administration, you must accept and understand the present administration did not create the current security challenge and trouble that we face currently as a nation and particularly, northern Nigeria. In fact, if we’re going to be truthful, they met a very dire situation on ground,” he said.
“It was a daily occurrence. You call them farmers-herders clashes and crises. It was a daily occurrence across the length and breadth of the North.”
According to the commissioner, the insurgency that had its strongest concentration in parts of the North-East has been substantially weakened by the current security architecture.
He noted that Borno and Yobe had historically been at the centre of the insurgency, with parts of Adamawa and Bauchi also affected.
“When security problems started, it was at a point localized along the northeastern geopolitical region of the country, Bauchi, Yobe, Adamawa, but the epicenter used to be Borno and Yobe and the northern little part of Adamawa State. But today, if you’re fair to this government, you can honestly say the insurgency has been largely degraded,” Leneke said.
He stressed that the presence of occasional attacks did not negate what he described as a substantial decline in the frequency of violence.
“There might be isolated cases here and there, just like the one I mentioned, but they are no longer a daily occurrence. They are no longer a weekly occurrence, not even a monthly occurrence as the case may be,” he said.
Leneke also claimed that the farmer-herder crisis, which had contributed to violence and displacement across the region, had been largely brought under control.
He estimated that between 85 and 90 per cent of the crisis had been addressed, arguing that farmers and herders were increasingly able to carry out their activities without the persistent clashes that previously disrupted communities.
“The farmers-herders situational crisis that we’ve also experienced across the entire northern region is almost a thing of the past and I can broadly say 85 to 90 per cent of this crisis have been taken care of,” he said.
“Farmers can now go to farm, herders can now also rear their animals without the daily clashes that take place between them.”
The commissioner similarly pointed to what he described as a significant reduction in banditry across the North-West, although he acknowledged that the problem had not been completely eliminated.
He said the current security architecture had succeeded in reducing the threat to what he called its “PRS minimum for now”.
“I’m not saying it has been totally resolved and taken care of but if we must be honest, this administration and its security architecture have done a very commendable and remarkable job in tackling the situation and degrading it to its PRS minimum for now,” Leneke said.
One of the clearest indications of the improvement, according to him, is the growing ability of residents to travel along routes that were previously regarded as highly dangerous.
He recalled a period when some roads across the North were effectively controlled by armed groups, making travel a potentially life-threatening undertaking.
“People can now ply some of these roads, unlike before, you can’t even think about plying these roads because you’re almost certain it is a dead trap for you or a dead wish if you decide to do that,” he said.
“There has been drastic improvement. There’s been tremendous improvement and credit must be given to this administration in that regard.”
Leneke linked the security gains to increased federal intervention and infrastructure development across Northern Nigeria, pointing to ongoing road projects and other federal initiatives as part of the broader effort to reconnect communities and stimulate economic activity.
“I can also tell you the projects that are federally conceived and carried out are ongoing across the North. Superhighways are also being constructed across the North,” he said.
“If you talk about the Badagry-Sokoto, if you’re talking about the Abuja-Kaduna, Abuja-Kano, and all of those, in fairness to this government, credit must be given to the government that these developmental strides and efforts are taking place in northern Nigeria.”
The commissioner also disclosed that President Tinubu had approved the establishment of about five Nigerian Army battalions in strategic locations across Adamawa State.
He listed Ganye, Luman, Madagali and Mubi among locations where the new military formations would be established.
“In Adamawa State alone, the president has given the approval for the establishment of about five battalions of the Nigerian Army across the state, in Ganye, Luman, Madagali, Mubi, all across Adamawa State,” he disclosed.
Leneke said the new military formations would further strengthen security coverage and provide a stronger security presence in vulnerable areas.
While defending the administration’s record, the commissioner acknowledged that the latest Adamawa-Borno border attack demonstrated that security threats remained and that security agencies could not afford to relax.
His comments come amid continuing security concerns in parts of Northern Nigeria, where insurgents, bandits and other criminal groups continue to pose challenges to residents and authorities.
Leneke nevertheless maintained that the character of the security crisis had changed considerably, insisting that attacks which were once regarded as routine had become isolated incidents.
He said the decline in the frequency and intensity of attacks, improved access to previously dangerous roads, reduction in farmer-herder clashes and planned expansion of military formations represented evidence of progress under the Tinubu administration.
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