Northern Elders Support NSA, Encourage Governors to Dialogue With Fulani Terrorists
Urge dialogue over endless military gestures that have failed miserably as insecurity persists.
September 10, 2025
The Northern Elders Progressive Group (NEPG) has shocked Nigerians by calling on governors across Nigeria’s North-West to embrace dialogue as the pathway to resolving the unending crisis of terrorism in the region. The elders stressed that pursuing peace through negotiations would save lives more effectively than continuing to rely on military operations or political condolence visits.
Speaking during a press briefing in Sokoto, the Northwest Coordinator of the group, Yusuf Abubakar, stated that his recent trips through troubled routes, including Sokoto to Gusau and Funtua to Zaria, had shown signs of improved security due to heightened surveillance and patrols. However, he stated that without genuine talks with Fulani terrorists/Bandits, such gains would remain fragile.
Abubakar stated that it was time for the governors to demonstrate courage by engaging in non-kinetic option. “One human life is far more valuable than a thousand political gestures. It is better to sit down and talk than to bury more citizens while offering hollow condolences,” he said.
The elders pointed to global precedents where governments engaged groups such as the Taliban in Afghanistan, the Houthis in Yemen, and even factions linked to Al-Qaeda, not as an act of weakness but as a calculated step to save lives and secure peace.
The group expressed concern over what it described as irresponsible claims by some governors who boast of having intelligence on the movements of bandits but do not share such information with security agencies for one reason or the other. According to Abubakar, such conduct undermines efforts to restore peace and reflects poorly on the trust of public office holders have on the security agencies.
NEPG also declared its support for the National Security Adviser (NSA), Malam Nuhu Ribadu, praising his willingness to adopt dialogue and other non-kinetic measures as part of his strategy. “The office of the National Security Adviser represents unity, peace, and security for the country. Attacking it is an attempt to destabilise the whole nation,” he said. The elders commended the Senate Committee on Intelligence chaired by Senator Shehu Buba, while cautioning politicians against sabotaging or politicizing the fragile peace in the area.
The call comes amid years of relentless attacks, mass abductions, and displacement across the Northwest by the terrorists, where communities have borne the brunt of the malicious massacres that has defied successive kinetics and non-kinetics military campaigns. While dialogue with armed groups remains controversial, the elders insist that restoring some sense of normalcy to villages and highways must take precedence over pride and political posturing.
For many, the appeal of the elders reflects the Nigerian people’s fatigue with the military approach of fighting the unending insecurity and a search for alternatives that might temporarily halt the cycle of bloodshed. Whether state governors will embrace the call remains to be seen.
