BY NONYELUM EKWENUGO
Kaduna
The West Africa Action Network Against Small Arms Proliferation (WAANSA) has urged northern governors to suspend their focus on the 2027 general elections and prioritise the worsening insecurity and killings across the region.
The regional first vice president of WAANSA, Mr. Martin Igwe made the call during a courtesy visit to the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Kaduna State Council on Wednesday.
Igwe warned that the North is “bleeding” from unending violence, uncontrolled inflow of arms, and weak leadership response, while communities continue to live under fear and hardship.
He said while farmers and rural dwellers face daily attacks from bandits, kidnappers, and cross-border criminals, politicians appear consumed by preparations for the 2027 elections.
“Election is about the living, not the dead. Our people are dying daily, yet leaders appear more interested in political permutations than in saving lives or rebuilding devastated communities,” he said.
The WAANSA vice president identified Katsina, Sokoto, Zamfara and Kwara as major flashpoints, saying their porous borders had made the illegal movement of arms and infiltration by bandits from neighbouring countries easier.
He said WAANSA, which operates across all 15 ECOWAS member states, was deeply concerned about the regional dimension of Nigeria’s security crisis and called for stronger cross-border collaboration under the ECOWAS framework.
He also appealed to the Deputy Senate President, Senator Barau Jibrin, who serves as the Second Deputy Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament, to rally lawmakers across the sub-region to adopt a joint security strategy against arms proliferation and transnational crimes.
“Nigerians are almost speaking in a war situation. Those of us in towns may not feel it, but people in local communities are suffering unimaginable hardship. This is the time for ECOWAS to rise and protect its citizens”.
Igwe also decried worsening food insecurity in the North, attributing it to farmers’ inability to access their farmlands due to persistent attacks.
“When people cannot farm, hunger follows, and when hunger strikes, criminality grows,” he said.
He further alleged that drug abuse was a major driver of banditry and violent crimes, accusing some political actors of indirectly funding the trade that fuels insecurity.
“It’s a network that thrives because it serves political interests. The media to expose such syndicates”.
Responding, the Chairman of the NUJ Kaduna Council, Alhaji AbdulGafar Alabelewe, commended WAANSA for its advocacy and pledged the union’s readiness to partner with the group in promoting peace-oriented public discourse.
He said the visit offered renewed hope that patriotic Nigerians were still committed to peace and nation-building, adding that journalists would continue to spotlight issues affecting community security and development.
Alabelewe also urged State governments to adopt Kaduna’s non-kinetic approach to conflict management, which he said had helped to reduce violence, while calling for stronger ECOWAS cooperation to secure borders and stabilise the region.
