The Arewa Broadcast Media Practitioners Forum, (ABMPF) has urged the Federal Government to immediately declare a state of emergency on security in the North with a clearly defined tactical, strategic and timeline.
The ABMPF Chairman, Alhaji Abdullahi Yelwa, who made the call at a news conference on Wednesday in Abuja, urged the mobilisation of citizens to take more interest in their own defence.
He noted that the forum converged out of a “deep sense of patriotism and concern” for Northern Nigeria and its helpless people.
He described ABMPF as the leading broadcast voice in the region, comprising over 150 NBC-licensed radio and television stations and eminent members of the Fourth Estate.
Yelwa saluted the gallantry of Nigeria’s armed forces and the bravery of intelligence officers who daily risk their lives for the safety of citizens.
He described the abduction of pupils and teachers in Oyo State and the death of retired Maj.-Gen. Abubakar Rabe in bandit captivity as events that have refocused attention on insecurity since the beginning of 2026.
The chairman said media practitioners in the North had “seen it all,” with reporters often serving as first responders when bandits strike and covering heinous atrocities daily.
He said human sensibilities had been numbed by the regularity of the mayhem, including communities fleeing into rivers and forests, squalor in IDP camps, and rural areas turned into ghost towns.
Yelwa recalled that at a security summit in Kebbi State in November 2025, ABMPF had expressed grave alarm over the dangerous escalation of insecurity threatening nationhood.
He noted that security infractions had taken an astronomical dimension in 2026, with attacks in Borno, Yobe, Plateau, Niger, Benue, Kogi, Kwara, Zamfara, Kebbi, Sokoto, Katsina and Kaduna States.
According to him, all institutional, material and strategic interventions so far have failed to stem the tide of banditry and terrorism.
He, therefore, called on Northern leaders to identify the ecosystem of insecurity and fish out informants and facilitators of banditry.
Accordingly, citizens should take more interest in their own defence and end the “culture of victimhood” where communities wait fatalistically for invasion.
He called for the decentralisation of the tactical strategy of the war, stressing that defense architecture must be located within communities.
Responding to questions on arms, Yelwa said even basic weapons like dane guns should be considered so communities can respond quickly before troops arrive from elsewhere.
He described the delay in response as a key weakness, noting that by the time the governors lobby in Abuja, bandits would have carried out their worst and disappeared.
While lauding state police and forest guards as a mid-term measure, he said only a massive deployment of conventional forces can dislodge criminals from forest hideouts.
Yelwa framed the North as a national buffer zone, saying threats from the Sahel pass through areas like Argungu before reaching the rest of the country.
He warned that Northern fatalism was changing, and the rising mood could lead to “organised anger,” citing a recent incident where displaced persons blocked roads.
On the economy, he lamented a 25 to 50 per cent drop in crop yields, the collapse of industries, and noted that 80 to 90 per cent of Nigeria’s out-of-school children were from the North.
The chairman assured governments at all levels of ABMPF’s readiness to partner in tackling the crisis, and urged the electorate to reject leaders who fan disunity and religious division.
