Freeze Terrorists’ Assets, Trace Their Sponsors, Former Army Provost Tells Tinubu

Former Army Provost and faculty member at the National Defence College, Major General Pat Achem-Vingir (rtd), has urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to implement sweeping financial and operational measures to dismantle the networks sustaining terrorism and banditry across the country. Speaking on Inside Sources with Laolu Akande on Channels Television on Friday, Achem-Vingir insisted that […]

Former Army Provost and faculty member at the National Defence College, Major General Pat Achem-Vingir (rtd), has urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to implement sweeping financial and operational measures to dismantle the networks sustaining terrorism and banditry across the country.

Speaking on Inside Sources with Laolu Akande on Channels Television on Friday, Achem-Vingir insisted that Nigeria must fight terrorism “on all fronts” and move beyond reactive, short-term responses.

Achem-Vingir strongly argued that Nigeria must go after the finances and economic enablers sustaining terrorism, describing economic disruption as one of the most powerful tools in counterinsurgency.

“I see most of the things happening in Zamfara, other states in the northern part of Nigeria, are economic-related. So you need to take hold of their assets… You need to trace those who are involved. Pick them up, lock them up, freeze their assets.”

He said cutting off the sources of capital flow to insurgents—such as illicit mining, weapons supply chains, and external financiers—would choke the operational capacity of terror groups.

“If you do that and cut the source of flow of capital that the insurgents are using, then you are heading towards the right direction.”
Achem-Vingir noted that modern technology has made financial tracking easier, insisting that the government must now move decisively to identify and incapacitate collaborators embedded even within elite circles.

“Somebody said that when the CDS, who is now Minister of Defence, was speaking and talking about enemies, that some of them were listening to him in the hall. And so we need to be able to identify such people and cut them off… so that the stream of resources to insurgents will be taken care of.”

The former provost said the government must deny insurgents space to operate by holding cleared territories, increasing troop levels, and deploying persistent drone and intelligence operations.

“They are having ungoverned spaces. That is why they are operating. If you make life uncomfortable for them… deny them space to operate, then you are doing the right thing.”

According to him, only when territories are secured and violence suppressed can Nigerians return to farming, schooling, road travel, and normal life.

Achem-Vingir expressed cautious optimism that the Tinubu administration has begun to take the right steps and must continue on this path for the sake of national stability.

“The first question one would ask: is there a way to tackle this? I would say yes. Even for the very life of the administration, there is a way. The administration itself needs a life to go forward.”

Commending President Tinubu for declaring a national security emergency, he said the move signals a rare but critical shift in Nigeria’s security posture.

“First, you know, you need to fight this thing on all fronts, and the President declaring a state of emergency is a step in the right direction. It will keep us away from reacting instead of being proactive.”

Achem-Vingir, who spent decades in military policing and counterinsurgency operations, said the declaration gives the government the legal room to implement non-traditional but necessary security measures.
“When you have a state of emergency, it means you are permitted to do a couple of orthodoxies,” he noted.

The retired Major General stressed that winning the war requires a significant increase in troop deployment, noting that global best practice demands a heavy boots-on-ground approach.
“You need to upscale the number of your troops. When you are fighting an emergency of this nature, you take the population into consideration, and there is 25 troops to one terrorist. That is the acceptable minimum number of troops you have.”

He emphasized the classic counterinsurgency doctrine of clear, build, and hold, warning that insurgents will continue to resurface if territory is not secured and governance reinstated.

“If you are not doing that and you are just clearing them, they will infiltrate into civilian populations and come back again when you have done your work and gone. So we need to do that.”

He further urged the government to deploy constant drone surveillance to make life unbearable for insurgents and prevent them from enjoying the “ungoverned spaces” that currently give them freedom of movement.
He added that the President’s declaration of a security emergency is unprecedented in his lifetime and creates the “ballroom” needed to adopt unconventional but effective solutions.
“I’ve never heard a Nigerian president declare a security emergency within my adult life. I’ve never heard that. So that is a step in the right direction. It gives you a ballroom to do things that are non-normal.”