Northern Governors, Traditional Rulers Hold Emergency Security Summit as Banditry Surges Across Region

|By Adejumo Adekunle

Northern State Governors and top traditional rulers convened an emergency security meeting on Monday at the Sir Kashim Ibrahim House in Kaduna, following a sharp rise in banditry, terrorism, kidnapping, and deadly farmer–herder clashes across the region.

The closed-door session, chaired by the Chairman of the Northern Governors’ Forum and Gombe State Governor, Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya, alongside the Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar III, brought together key political and traditional authorities to confront the escalating violence that has claimed hundreds of lives and displaced thousands in recent months.

Sources at the meeting said the leaders are reviewing fresh waves of attacks that have swept through several northern states in recent weeks. The insecurity spike includes the abduction of at least 24 schoolgirls in Kebbi State—later released after days in captivity—and the kidnapping of more than 200 pupils from a Catholic school in Niger State, where about 50 children managed to escape and reunite with their families.

The Forum is expected to issue new joint security directives after deliberations, as pressure mounts on northern leaders to curtail worsening criminal activities threatening millions of residents.