Targeted Attacks on Military Generals Signal Dangerous New Phase — Expert Warns

Retired Major General Maharazu Tsiga was abducted last week. The attack on the former military administrator isn't an isolated incident — retired General Rabe Abubakar has also been targeted recently.

Counter-terrorism expert and lawyer Bulama Bukarti says this pattern marks a dangerous escalation. In an interview on Channels Television monitored by Persecondnews on Sunday, he warned that Nigeria's security apparatus is facing a new, more brazen phase of insecurity.

"This is a wake-up call for the Nigerian Army," Bukarti said. "If a general will be treated in this way and if this group gets away with it, they're telling criminal gangs that even military generals can be attacked and nothing will happen."

Bukarti argued that the repeated targeting of senior officers signals weakening deterrence. Criminal networks have grown more confident as insecurity has been allowed to fester over time, he said. These groups have entrenched themselves, widened their operational reach, and are now carrying out increasingly high-profile attacks.

"If they knew they were abducting a retired major general, then this attack was orchestrated to erode public confidence and force the hand of government. The more insecurity festers, the more it expands, flourishes and erodes public confidence."

Bukarti also raised questions about operational gaps. How, he asked, are armed groups able to carry out kidnappings while maintaining communication, mobility, and access to logistics without being effectively tracked or dismantled? He said this points to both an intelligence failure and a coordination problem within Nigeria's security architecture.

He cautioned against politicising the growing violence. The attacks are better explained by the sustained expansion of criminal networks, he said, not by election-driven narratives or political conspiracy theories.

On government's response, Bukarti urged President Bola Tinubu to move beyond repeated declarations. "Enough of declarations, enough of statements, enough of speeches. President Tinubu should be different. We must get on with it and show these people that there is law and order in this country."

Bukarti stressed the need to target the supply chains that sustain armed groups. Food, fuel, weapons, and logistics reaching forest hideouts originate from outside those locations, he noted. Strengthening border monitoring, disrupting supply routes, and deploying technology-driven intelligence would significantly weaken criminal networks over time.

He insisted that only sustained, coordinated, and intelligence-led operations can reverse the current security trajectory and restore public confidence in the state's ability to protect lives and property.