December 19, 2025 | News | SUNTV Global Channel
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has formally designated bandits and all armed non-state actors as terrorists, declaring that his administration will no longer treat banditry, militancy and related violent crimes as ordinary criminal acts but as direct threats to Nigeria’s national security.
The President made the announcement on Friday while presenting the 2026 Appropriation Bill to a joint session of the National Assembly, outlining what he described as a comprehensive overhaul of Nigeria’s security architecture aimed at crushing violent crime nationwide.
According to Tinubu, the new policy framework marks a decisive shift from past approaches that handled banditry and similar crimes in isolation.
“Under this new architecture, any armed group or gun-wielding non-state actor operating outside the authority of the Nigerian state will be regarded as terrorists,” the President declared.
He stressed that bandits, violent cults, militias, armed gangs, forest-based criminal groups, armed robbers and foreign-linked mercenaries would all fall under the same terrorism classification and face the full force of the law.
“We will usher in a new era of criminal justice. We will show no mercy to those who commit or support acts of terrorism, banditry, kidnapping for ransom and other violent crimes,” Tinubu said.
New Counterterrorism Doctrine
The President revealed that his administration is restructuring Nigeria’s security system around a new national counterterrorism doctrine designed to improve coordination, intelligence sharing and operational effectiveness across all security agencies.
“Our administration is resetting the national security architecture and establishing a new counterterrorism doctrine — a holistic redesign anchored on unified command, intelligence gathering, community stability and counter-insurgency,” he said. “This doctrine will fundamentally change how we confront terrorism and violent crime.”
Tinubu also made it clear that anyone who finances, supports or facilitates violent criminal networks would be treated as a terrorist accomplice.
“We will go after those who perpetrate violence for political or sectarian ends, as well as those who fund and enable their evil schemes,” he warned.
Security Spending Tied to Results
Addressing concerns over defence spending, the President said increased security allocations in the 2026 budget would come with strict accountability measures.
“We will invest in security with clear accountability for outcomes — because security spending must deliver results,” Tinubu said, adding that the government would continue to strengthen the armed forces and security agencies with modern equipment and advanced hardware.
“Our priority remains increasing the fighting capability of our forces and boosting their effectiveness to secure every part of our country,” he stated.
Senate Backs Tougher Measures
Tinubu’s declaration aligns with recent actions by the National Assembly. On November 26, the Senate adopted far-reaching security resolutions officially classifying kidnapping and banditry as acts of terrorism and approving the maximum death penalty for all kidnapping-related offences.
The resolutions followed a heated plenary session presided over by Senate President Godswill Akpabio, after a motion raised by Senator Ashiru Oyelola Yisa and amended by Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele.
In one of its strongest stances yet, the Senate ruled that all kidnapping offences should be treated as terrorism, with mandatory death sentences and no option of fine or sentence reduction by any court.
To give legal backing to the decision, the Senate directed its leadership to introduce an amendment bill “in the shortest possible time.”
New JTF, Investigations Ordered
Beyond legal reforms, lawmakers approved the establishment of a new Joint Task Force to enhance security across the Kwara–Kogi axis, with Forward Operating Bases to be set up in Eruku, Babanla, Oke-Ero, Isanlu and Wasagu in Kebbi State.
The Senate also urged the Federal Government to strengthen local vigilante groups and review Nigeria’s firearm laws in line with practices in over 175 countries where responsible citizens are allowed to own firearms.
A major highlight of the resolutions was a directive for a full investigation into the withdrawal of troops from a school in Kebbi State hours before a bandit attack. Senate security committees were mandated to probe the incident, including a controversial circular related to the killing of Brigadier Uba in Maiduguri, and report back within two weeks.
Strongest Signal Yet
President Tinubu’s move is widely seen as one of the toughest policy signals yet against banditry and armed violence, setting the stage for a more aggressive, coordinated and uncompromising national security response in 2026.
For millions of Nigerians grappling with kidnappings, school raids and rural attacks, the administration says the message is clear: armed violence will now be treated as terrorism — and punished as such.
