Insecurity Saga: Bandits Have Their Informants Among Nigerians – Gen Musa..

By Daniel Njienue, Niger Delta regional correspondent

Speaking on Friday at the 2026 edition of The Platform Nigeria, an annual national discourse held to celebrate Democracy Day, hosted by the Senior Pastor and Founder of The Covenant Nation, Pastor Poju Oyemade.

The Minister of Defence, General Christopher Musa (retd.), noted that the fight against terrorism, banditry and insurgency in the country remains difficult because of the active support criminal groups receive from their sponsors and some members of the public.

He stressed on why decades of military operations have not completely eradicated armed groups, General Musa claimed that the criminal factions do not operate in a vacuum. Instead, they rely heavily on a shadow network of local sympathisers and informants.

“Banditry, insurgency, terrorism. Why does it seem so difficult to deal with it? Perhaps we have the people that are also encouraging and supporting these things from happening, because the terrorists, the bandits, survive around the people,” General Musa stated.

He added that the survival of the groups depends entirely on logistical lifelines provided by ordinary citizens within communities.

The domestic support system acts as the vital life source for criminal networks.

“There are several stories of how people have aided them in giving them food, giving them water, and giving them information, and these are the things that keep them going, and we call this the oxygen”.

“Who is funding them? Who are those giving them information? Who are those giving them the logistics that keep them going? It is still the people.”

The Defence Minister noted that modern asymmetrical warfare presents unique challenges that traditional military strategies alone cannot solve.

Unlike conventional warfare, where battle lines are clearly drawn, contemporary threats are fluid and deeply embedded within civilian spaces.

General Musa concluded his address with a strong appeal for community-led intelligence gathering, asserting that the Armed Forces of Nigeria and allied security agencies are only as effective as the cooperation they receive from the public.

He urged Nigerians to look beyond treating insecurity as an exclusively military issue, framing it instead as a collective national crisis that requires local vigilance and proactive reporting of suspicious activities.

Without cutting off this local “oxygen supply,” the Minister warned, achieving long-term stability will remain an uphill battle for the state.