As waves of violence spread from the North East to nearly every region, a growing chorus of voices warn that the killings bear all the hallmarks of genocide. In this interview, a former All Progressives Congress presidential aspirant, Adamu Garba, confronts the nation’s deepening security crisis, accusing the state of denial, exposing systemic complicity, and urging urgent collaboration with global powers before Nigeria’s “time bomb” explodes. Adedayo Adejobi brings excerpts:
You’ve described the killings across parts of Nigeria as “pure genocide.” Could you clarify what parameters or evidence you believe qualify these atrocities as genocide under international law, and how that aligns with Nigeria’s own official position?
When you look at the internationally acceptable definition of genocide, which states “the deliberate and systematic killing or persecution of a large number of people from a particular national or ethnic group to destroy that nation or group,” this depicts exactly what’s been happening in Nigeria. The terrorists carry out deliberate and systematic killings of innocent, defenseless civilians in the most vulnerable part of Nigeria. And this has been going on for more than 15 years. Several villages in Borno, Yobe, Zamfara, Katsina, Niger, Sokoto, Kebbi, Plateau, Benue, and now Kwara have been wiped off. The worst is, this crisis started only in the North East, and now it has expanded to other regions of the North West, North Central, South East, and some parts of the South West. At what point can we call it what it is? Is it when it has reached every family and community in Nigeria? The faster to accept our realities and confront these challenges head-on, the better for us as a nation.