There was a time not too long ago when plying the Abuja–Kaduna road was nothing short of a Russian roulette. Every kilometre carried the possibility of bandit attacks. Outcomes of such attacks were rarely pleasant: kidnapping, ransom, or death. That stretch, less than 200 kilometres long, had become a national nightmare. The fear was worse for communities like Birnin Gwari, a place so infested with armed groups they formed a parallel government ruling the people with fear, blood and death.
Nigerians living in large swarts of ungoverned spaces in states like Niger, Katsina, Zamfara and even Sokoto were left at the mercy of daredevil criminals who maimed, kidnapped and raped them at will. Order was subverted and criminal martial law imposed on Nigerian citizens by these criminals.
Back then, security agencies threw everything into a purely military response and they fought gallantly. Armoured vehicles rumbled, boots pounded the ground, and bullets rained in the forests. Bandits certainly fell, but so did many gallant officers’ lives sacrificed in a war that seemed endless. Worst is, the more the guns roared, the more the violence reproduced itself and became reminiscent of an old war movie “war without end.. Farmers could no longer reach their farms without risking abduction. Traders became prime targets – cash cows, with the ransom from them sustaining the nefarious activities of bandit. And right before our eyes, the once-bustling Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria corridor and many erstwhile peaceful locations shrank into a landscape of fear.
Things took a turn for the worst when these criminals emboldened by a failed approach, started spreading from the highways to train stations, even the airports. And, with fear no longer confined to the poor in the villages, but now also to the rich in their luxury train coaches and airplanes, the urgency of the situation became glaring. It also became painfully clear that although the military response has yielded some results, it’s obvious Nigeria could not shoot her way out of this crisis. One thing was certain: a new approach was non-negotiable.
When Senator Shehu Buba won his election to the 10th Senate, I’m sure not even he expected to be saddled with the responsibility of leading the senate’s committee on security and the responsibility that comes with it. Specifically, he could not have visualised the role he’s expected to play in the quest to secure the lives and livelihoods of Nigerians. Yet, for some reason best known to the senate leadership, that committee fell to him. And as someone who embodied service to the nation, he didn’t lament his bad fortune, in fact, he saw it as an opportunity to step-in and do something different; a chance to chart a new direction for the security situation where it has become obvious that guns alone were no longer sufficient as a winning strategy.
Despite glaring evidence of the success of Buba’s soft approaches, his approach has so far drawn both applause and predictable criticism. It’s to be expected in a country such as ours where it has become normal for people to frown at approaches they either don’t understand or simply don’t want to accept. Buba’s courage to depart from the norm, charting a new course that many lacked the courage to attempt didn’t sit down well with them.
But Buba didn’t care. He understood that while guns may suppress insecurity, and we have seen our military try, they rarely heal completely. In the history of warfare or insurgency, none has ever ended with the barrel of the gun. Hostilities have always found their way to the round table where they are eventually resolved. So, it was safe in this knowledge, that Buba chose to adopt soft approaches, non-kinetic solutions. He brought into the conversation respected religious leaders like Sheikh Assadus Sunnah to broker deals with non-state actors. And the results have been striking: over 200 abductees freed through dialogue and trust-building, not bloodshed.
Yet rather than acknowledge these tangible wins, some critics comfortably sipping tea in their homes, surrounded by their families have chosen to sneer at Buba’s audacity to negotiate with non-state actors and even achieve results. But, it’s to be expected. The Hausas have a saying “Na zaune gwanin ko kuwa”. Very easy to frown at negotiations with bandits from a place of safety while others live in constant fear. Meanwhile, communities that once lived in terror can now sleep a little easier thanks to Buba’s brave resolve to try something different.
Here is the folly of it all. Some communities in states where the governors have maintained a rigid stance on not negotiating with bandits, suggest the people are taking their fate into their own hands. Reports from news dailies have shown that whereas the governors won’t negotiate, the people have gone ahead to strike peace deals. Yes, the reality on ground tells a different story.
In Katsina state for instance, peace efforts have taken a remarkable turn in the once-feared forests of Batsari and Jibia LGAs. Through months of community engagement, eight bandit groups in Batsari, including leaders commanding 500, 300, and even 200 fighters handed over their weapons. Another six groups in Jibia followed suit. That’s 14 groups disarmed in total. Since the deal, for three straight months, not a single attack has been recorded in those communities.
At Wagini, a village in Batsari LGA, things are almost surreal. Silence has taken over where loud bangs of guns once reigned. The bursting market once left comatose is alive again. Farmers are back to tilling their lands and anticipating bumper harvests. Schools, hospitals, and village life have crept back to normalcy. This is where residents say hundreds who fled have returned, to trade, laugh and make merry.
In Zamfara, Bagega, Maru, Tsafe and beyond, hitherto facing daily terror and hunger have embraced negotiations that have returned peace. For instance, communities in Bagega and Kawaye orchestrated a peace meeting on May 8, 2025. Locals and bandit reps hashed out a deal which will see bandits release 43 abductees (17 women and eight children) the next day, and another 60 by May 11 . That’s 103 people returned to families in just two days.
Then, after completion of terms, the Bagega market was reopened and had remained busier than it had been in years. Elsewhere in Anka, Bakura, Birnin Magaji, Bukkuyum, Tsafe, Maru, Shinkafi, Zurmi, dozens of communities have brokered peace, striking different terms, which sometimes include simply standing down in exchange for peace to return.
Granted, that peace deals negotiated by desperate villagers may leave them exposed, but what do we expect from these people when their lives have become a spinner for gory statistics? Had the state governments perhaps stepped in to negotiate on their behalf, the peace terms may have been more reasonable. Regardless, the willingness of the people to enter into peace deals meant that Sen. Buba’s non-kinetic approach, not the rigid posturing of some governors has the potential to return peace to many of these occupied villages.
Indeed, Sen. Buba’s critics might not want to admit it, but his non-kinetic approach is delivering the kind of results that endless deployments of soldiers alone could not secure. His use of trusted clerics recognises the deeply religious texture of the Northwest. Involving figures like Sheikh Assadus Sunnah has built bridges that weapons alone never could. Even hardened actors, people once written off as irredeemable, have been persuaded to release captives, lay down arms, or at least respect community peace arrangements.
What the senator has done is a proof that the real measure of leadership is not clinging to dogma or doubling down on principles but delivering results. And on this score, the numbers speak louder than the critics.
As I conclude, it’s pertinent to note that a sad reality of the democratisation of information technology is that people with no knowledge of critical issues, even sensitive ones like security have appropriated for themselves the position of experts. It’s not surprising to see armchair critics, sit in the comfort of their homes to criticise efforts and approaches that have been yielding results, yet have no alternative solutions that could trump, for instance, Sen. Buba’s non-kinetic approaches.
Here then, is why I have maintained that, instead of complaining, Nigerians should adopt a more bright view of things; always look at the positives. In the end, it’s not about principles of non-negotiation, it’s about achieving results and most importantly returning safety to communities, and people into the waiting arms of their loved ones. Nothing else matters more.
Sagir writes from Sokoto