WAANSA Urges Northern Governors to Prioritize Insecurity Over Politics

Martin Igwe, WAANSA Regional First Vice President  (c) WAANSA

WAANSA Urges Northern Governors to Prioritize Insecurity Over Politics

In a powerful and urgent appeal, the West Africa Action Network Against Small Arms Proliferation (WAANSA) has called on governors of Nigeria’s northern states to shift their focus from political ambitions surrounding the 2027 general elections to the escalating insecurity and poverty ravaging the region.

This call was made by Martin Igwe, WAANSA’s Regional First Vice President and Nigeria’s representative on the organization’s executive board, during a courtesy visit to the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Kaduna State Council on October 8, 2025.

Igwe expressed deep concern over what he described as the governors’ “growing obsession” with electoral politics while communities across the North are suffering from unchecked violence, arms proliferation, and leadership neglect. He emphasized that elections are meant for the living, not the dead, and lamented that rural dwellers and farmers live in constant fear of bandits, kidnappers, and cross-border criminals.

According to him, states such as Katsina, Sokoto, Zamfara, and Kwara have become epicenters of violence due to porous borders that facilitate arms smuggling and bandit infiltration.

WAANSA, which operates across all 15 ECOWAS member states, highlighted the regional dimension of Nigeria’s security crisis and called for stronger cross-border collaboration under the ECOWAS framework. Igwe appealed to Senator Barau Jibrin, Deputy Senate President and Second Deputy Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament, to lead efforts in adopting a joint security strategy to combat arms proliferation and transnational crimes. He warned that Nigerians are speaking from a near-war situation, noting that while urban centers may seem calm, rural communities are under siege.

The group also linked the worsening food insecurity in the North to the inability of farmers to access their lands due to incessant attacks. Igwe explained that when farming is disrupted, hunger follows, and hunger breeds criminality. He further alleged that drug abuse is a major enabler of banditry and violent crimes, accusing certain political actors of indirectly funding drug networks that fuel insecurity. He called for media collaboration to expose these syndicates and promote peace-oriented public discourse.

In response, Alhaji AbdulGafar Alabelewe, Chairman of the NUJ Kaduna Council, commended WAANSA’s advocacy and pledged the union’s support in spotlighting issues affecting community security and development. He praised the group’s commitment to peace and nation-building and urged state governments to adopt Kaduna’s non-kinetic approach to conflict management, which has reportedly helped reduce violence.

Alabelewe also echoed the call for stronger ECOWAS cooperation to secure regional borders and stabilize the sub-region.