Former presidential aide, Laolu Akande, has called on President Bola Tinubu to urgently intensify efforts to end killings across Nigeria, warning that communities are increasingly living in fear as terrorists and armed bandits continue to attack civilians.
Speaking during the My Take segment of Inside Sources with Laolu Akande on Channels Television on Friday, Akande drew attention to recent attacks in Kaduna and Benue states, where dozens of people were killed while others remain missing.
Akande said the victims were not merely statistics but Nigerians with families, aspirations and futures that were abruptly cut short.
‘Earlier this week, tragedy struck in Kauru Local Government Area of Kaduna. Suspected armed bandits killed about 30 persons, including women and children. Several lives and properties lost. Again, these were human beings with names, dreams, plans cut off just like that,’ he said.
He proceeded to identify some of the victims of the Kaduna attack, including children and elderly persons, as a way of emphasising the human cost of the violence.
Among those he listed were nine-year-old Enough Bala; 55-year-old Maria Pius; 35-year-olds Ladi Monday and Monday Larai; 40-year-old Bala Jumai; nine-year-old Enoch Bala; 80-year-old Marcus Gashi; 45-year-old Maryamu Joseph; 30-year-old Maria Istifanu; four-year-old Dominion Dan Ladies; 10-year-old Yunana Emmanuel; two-year-old Criminal Emmanuel; and 65-year-old Phoebe Markus.
Akande said another deadly attack occurred in Otukpo Local Government Area of Benue State in the early hours of Thursday, leaving at least 13 people dead, with several others still missing.
He named the victims as Once Abechi, 53; Success Onche, 29; Edache Abechi, 70; Agwu Abuh, 33; Emmanuel Ijiga, 33; John Ikpe, 35; Michael Abaiike, 40; Philp Vincent, 18; Owoicho Ameh, 75; Sunday Alechenu, 78; Apex Samuel, 25; Isaacs Ejembi, 64; and five-year-old Joy Victor, the youngest and only female victim among those recovered.
Akande noted that Success Onche, one of the victims, was a graduate who was reportedly preparing to proceed to the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) camp in August.
He said the circumstances surrounding the attacks were particularly disturbing because the victims were asleep when they were killed.
‘They were attacked in their sleep and their lives cut short abruptly,’ he said.
Akande used the attacks to question how long Nigerians would continue to live under the threat of sudden violence.
‘How long will families sleep with one eye open?’ he asked.
He appealed directly to President Tinubu to treat the country’s worsening insecurity as an urgent national priority, stressing that the repeated attacks demonstrate that terrorism and banditry remain a serious threat to the lives and livelihoods of citizens.
‘How much longer, Mr President?’ Akande asked.
He argued that the scale of the killings requires a response that goes beyond reacting to individual attacks after they occur. According to him, the government must strengthen intelligence gathering, improve coordination among security agencies, protect vulnerable communities and dismantle the networks that enable armed groups to operate.
Akande said Nigeria is witnessing a disturbing spread of violence across different parts of the country and urged the government to provide a decisive strategy for bringing the crisis to an end.
‘It was former US President who spoke about the urgency of now. Nigeria is bleeding, blood in several places. We need a way out,’ he said.
He stressed that the victims and their families deserve justice, while communities deserve the confidence that they can sleep safely without fearing attacks.
For Akande, the ultimate objective must be the complete dismantling of terrorist and bandit networks rather than allowing them to repeatedly regroup and attack vulnerable communities.
‘Terrorism must be uprooted from its very root,’ he said.
The former presidential aide’s remarks come amid renewed public concern over attacks in Kaduna, Benue and other parts of the country.
The latest incidents have again intensified calls for stronger intelligence-led operations, better protection for rural communities and a more coordinated response to Nigeria’s security challenges.
Akande maintained that the human cost of insecurity must remain at the centre of the national conversation, insisting that behind every casualty figure is a Nigerian life, a family and a future lost.