While Nigeria struggles with security, state governors are failing in their most basic duty, choosing political survival and 2027 election calculations over the safety of the people they were elected to serve.
Development Diaries reports that amid the insecurity plaguing states, governors often respond slowly, or not at all, to distress in remote communities because many are busy chasing favour in Aso Villa and focusing on securing President Bola Tinubu’s re-election in 2027, rather than pushing for the protection of citizens in their states.
According to a report by The Guardian, some governors now operate from Abuja while citizens are largely abandoned to fend for themselves through divine assistance and deploying ill-equipped vigilante efforts.
In Edo State, two brothers, Ibrahim Tahir, a medical doctor, and his younger brother, Abu Tahir, who just graduated from medical school, according to reports, were abducted on 02 January, 2026, and the younger one was later killed.
In Kano State, Fatima Abubakar and her six children were murdered gruesomely in the Dorayi Charanchi area of the state on 17 January, 2026. These and other instances in other states are the product of an absentee government.
What we are seeing across Edo, Kano, Oyo and other states is the failure of subnational security governance. The 1999 constitution states that the security and welfare of the people are the primary purpose of government.
When doctors are kidnapped at their gates, students protest for safety and are arrested, and entire families are murdered in their homes, this is not fate or bad luck, but a clear choice.
Governors have security votes running into billions, control over vigilantes and forest guards, and influence over policing priorities, yet insecurity keeps spreading.
A big part of the problem is what many now call the ‘Abuja syndrome’. Governors are elected to govern their states, not to run permanent political offices from Aso Villa.
Yet silence followed the killing of a young doctor in Edo State, Kano State’s leadership is busy with party calculations while violent offenders roam free, and other states where political meetings seem more urgent than community safety.
Then there is the mystery of security votes without security. Every state gets Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) allocations, internally generated revenue, and monthly security votes that are rarely explained to the public.
The simple question we should ask is if billions are voted for security every year, where are the patrols, the intelligence, and the early response?
When insecurity worsens despite these funds, it is a red flag. Money is being spent, but outcomes are missing. Either the strategy is failing, or the money is not doing what it claims to do.
Even more troubling is how governments treat citizens who speak up. Peaceful protest against insecurity is a constitutional right, not a crime.
Yet in Ekpoma, students protesting kidnappings were branded rioters, while those terrorising communities seemed to enjoy more freedom.
This exposes how the state is quick to deploy force against angry citizens but slow to confront armed criminals. Add to this the selective grief we see, loud condolences for politically useful deaths, silence for murdered forest guards or abandoned families, and you get a system where even mourning is filtered through politics.
So what should be done?
Nigerians must demand transparency on security votes. Ask about how much was allocated, how it was spent, and what results were achieved.
Communities should document insecurity, use the media, Freedom of Information (FOI) requests, and civil society platforms, and refuse to accept silence as normal.
Protest should be organised, lawful, and persistent, and criminalisation of protest must be resisted. State Houses of Assembly must summon security chiefs and audit security spending.
