What US Intervention means for Nigeria insecurity, killings by former Presidential spokesperson

Former presidential aide, Laolu Akande, has said recent moves by the United States government have significantly heightened global scrutiny on Nigeria’s worsening insecurity, describing the development as a wake-up call for the country’s leadership. Speaking on the My Take segment of Inside Sources with Laolu Akande on Channels Television on Sunday, Akande noted that the […]

Former presidential aide, Laolu Akande, has said recent moves by the United States government have significantly heightened global scrutiny on Nigeria’s worsening insecurity, describing the development as a wake-up call for the country’s leadership.

Speaking on the My Take segment of Inside Sources with Laolu Akande on Channels Television on Sunday, Akande noted that the intervention of American lawmakers has forced a renewed international focus on the persistent killings and violence across various parts of Nigeria.
“The Americans are holding a mirror to our faces,” he said. “A report from members of the US House of Representatives last week has been generating quite a lot of interests among us Nigerians especially with some of the audacious and controversial aspects of that document.”
Akande was referring to a report by members of the United States House of Representatives, which alleged that China may be backing certain ethnic militias involved in killings in Nigeria, suggesting that such instability facilitates illegal mining activities by Chinese interests.
“This was the report in which members of the US Congress are saying that China is backing some ethnic militias who are behind the killings in the country because such is facilitating the illegal mining in Nigeria by the Chinese,” Akande stated.
He acknowledged that the report contains other troubling elements but stressed that its most significant impact lies in the global attention it has drawn to Nigeria’s security crisis.
“There are other worrying aspects of the report indeed. But, one thing we can all be grateful for is the fact that the US president Mr Donald Trump and the American Congress have managed to raise the stakes on the persistent insecurity and killings in Nigeria like never before on a global scale,” he said.
Akande argued that before the recent American intervention, Nigeria had reached a dangerous level of complacency regarding the bloodshed. According to him, the country was gradually becoming desensitised to violence, particularly in states such as Benue and Plateau.
“Before the intervention of the Americans, we were at a point of almost getting used to this level of insecurity. We were becoming disensitized to the violence. Before then, deaths, especially in Benue and Plateau have gone on with very little critical attention to really confront it,” he lamented.
He added that insecurity in the North-West had also been normalised, with banditry treated as an almost routine occurrence.
“We were even getting used to the idea of banditry in the North-Western part of the country. We were erroneously calling the killings in the Middle-Belt part of the country a question of farmer-herders clashes and we all but ignore the cries of the people in that part of the country suggesting genocide, land and special takeovers,” Akande said.
In a moment of candour, the former presidential spokesman admitted that successive administrations, including the one he served under, had failed to decisively end the killings.
“Our presidents, including one under which I served for which I’m embarrassed, promised to deal with the situation one after the other. In the end, the killings persisted. And then, suddenly, the Americans added their strong voices. And the Americans started flexing their muscles around Christian persecution. Then, our leaders woke up,” he said.
Akande maintained that while foreign intervention is often viewed with caution, he supports any constructive involvement that could help halt the bloodshed.
“I’m all for American interventions if it will end the killings,” he declared.
He therefore urged Nigeria’s leadership to respond proactively and strategically to the mounting diplomatic pressure.
“Mr President, gather the best diplomatic wizardry available in Nigeria to help solve this tough and challenging diplomatic issues,” Akande said.
His remarks come amid heightened debate over Nigeria’s security architecture and growing calls for both domestic reforms and stronger international engagement to address persistent violence in the Middle Belt, North-West and other troubled regions of the country.