Former Chief of Army Staff and ex-Minister of Interior, Lt.-Gen. Abdulrahman Bello Dambazau (Retd), has blamed the rise of Boko Haram on the negligence and unprofessional conduct of the Nigeria Police Force, describing the 2009 crackdown on the sect’s founder, Mohammed Yusuf, as a “fatal policing error” that plunged the nation into years of bloodshed.
Dambazau made the revelation on Tuesday in Abuja while delivering a keynote address at the 7th Annual Lecture of the Just Friends Club of Nigeria (JFCN), themed “Nigeria’s Security Challenges and the Quest for National Cohesion: A New Paradigm for Internal Security Architecture and Governance.”
According to him, the Boko Haram insurgency did not start as a war against the state but as a minor local confrontation between Yusuf’s followers and the police over a traffic law. He recalled that members of the sect were stopped by the police for not wearing crash helmets on their way to a burial in Maiduguri, and the altercation that followed led to several deaths. The group retaliated by attacking police stations across Borno State, sparking a violent response from security forces.
“When the military eventually intervened, we captured Mohammed Yusuf alive and handed him over to the police,” Dambazau said. “But instead of prosecuting him, the police executed him in cold blood. That singular act became the fuel that radicalised thousands and turned a local sect into a full-blown terrorist movement.”
He lamented that successive governments failed to learn from the mistake, relying excessively on military operations while neglecting the police, whose constitutional duty is to maintain internal security. “If we had fixed the Nigerian Police Force earlier, Boko Haram wouldn’t have existed,” he said. “The police should be the first line of defence, not the Army. You cannot fight insecurity from Abuja; it begins from the grassroots.”
Dambazau emphasised that Nigeria’s internal security system has been designed primarily to protect those in power rather than the citizens, warning that without urgent reforms, insecurity will persist regardless of the number of military deployments. “Until we make human security — not regime security — our priority, we will keep fighting new wars every decade,” he added.
The retired General advocated a complete overhaul of Nigeria’s security architecture to make it people-centered, intelligence-driven, and community-based. He called for police reform, improved welfare, and better coordination among security agencies.
“Bullets alone cannot solve insecurity,” he warned. “You cannot bomb unemployment, you cannot shoot poverty, and you cannot arrest hopelessness. Until we fix the governance and socio-economic conditions that breed violence, the guns will never go silent.”
Dambazau’s remarks come amid global attention on Nigeria’s security situation following a controversial directive by U.S. President Donald Trump ordering the Pentagon to prepare contingency plans for possible strikes in Nigeria over alleged persecution of Christians. Washington has also reclassified Nigeria as a “Country of Particular Concern” under its international religious freedom laws — a move that has drawn widespread criticism in Abuja.
Nigerian officials have dismissed the U.S. allegations, insisting that both Christians and Muslims have been victims of terrorist attacks and that the government remains committed to protecting all citizens regardless of faith.
However, analysts believe Dambazau’s comments add a new dimension to the debate, drawing attention away from external blame and focusing instead on Nigeria’s own institutional weaknesses. His speech underscores a growing consensus among security experts that the fight against terrorism cannot be won on the battlefield alone — but through justice, intelligence, and effective law enforcement.
“The future of Nigeria’s security lies not in more guns, but in more trust,” Dambazau concluded. “We must shift from defending governments to defending Nigerians.”
Background Sidebar: How Boko Haram Began
The Boko Haram sect, formally known as Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad, was founded in 2002 by Mohammed Yusuf in Maiduguri, Borno State. Initially operating as a religious reform movement, the group preached against Western education and government corruption.
In July 2009, a clash between its members and the police over crash-helmet laws led to widespread violence across northern Nigeria. After several days of fighting, Yusuf was captured by the army and handed over to the police, who later executed him extrajudicially.
His death became the turning point. The group re-emerged under Abubakar Shekau, waging a decade-long insurgency that has claimed over 40,000 lives and displaced more than two million people.
Second Segment: Trump’s Threat And Nigeria’s Response
Tension has continued to mount between Nigeria and the United States after President Donald Trump ordered the Pentagon to draft contingency plans for possible military action in Nigeria, citing alleged persecution of Christians.
Washington’s classification of Nigeria as a “Country of Particular Concern” has drawn sharp rebuke from Abuja, with the Federal Government describing the move as “unwarranted interference” based on “faulty intelligence.”
Information Minister Mohammed Idris insisted that the Nigerian government “does not tolerate religious persecution of any kind,” stressing that the ongoing insecurity affects all faiths.
Analysts, however, say the development places additional pressure on Nigeria to demonstrate its capacity to protect citizens and reform its internal security architecture.
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