Nigerian bishops rebuke government for welcoming ‘repentant bandits’ amid security crisis

‘The ongoing reintegration of so-called repentant bandits into security agencies and society, while victims of crime and their relatives are neglected or treated with disdain, rubs dirt on the face of justice.’

Catholic bishops in southwestern Nigeria condemned the reintegration of “repentant bandits” into society and security structures after another abduction attack on a school.

They described the policy as a distortion of justice and an insult to victims of violent crimes across the country.

In a statement issued on 22 June, the bishops of the Ibadan Ecclesiastical Province also called for the immediate release of 39 pupils and seven teachers abducted from three schools in Esiele, Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State in May.

“It is over a whole month since 39 learners and seven teachers were kidnapped,” the bishops said in their statement titled “Gone for Too Long, Bring Them Home Now”.

“Those children, who barely understood what happened to them, have now lived for over a month under the harshest conditions, with no roof over their heads, no good nutrition, and completely exposed to the elements in the forest.”

The attackers murdered a teacher and a motorcyclist during the kidnapping and beheaded another teacher in the forest.

The bishops – from the Archdiocese of Ibadan and the Dioceses of Ekiti, Ilorin, Ondo and Oyo – described the inability of President Bola Tinubu government to curb rising violence across Nigeria, identifying the reintegration of bandits as a failed policy.

While victims of kidnapping, banditry and other violent crimes continue to endure pain, trauma and uncertainty, government authorities appear more interested in rehabilitating and reintegrating perpetrators into society, they said, warning that this approach weakens public confidence in the justice system and sends the wrong message to law-abiding citizens.

“The ongoing reintegration of so-called repentant bandits into security agencies and society, while victims of crime and their relatives are neglected or treated with disdain, rubs dirt on the face of justice,” they said.

The bishops maintained that genuine justice demands accountability, insisting that those responsible for kidnapping, banditry and other violent crimes should face the full weight of the law rather than benefit from rehabilitation programmes without adequate restitution.

They warned that failure to hold offenders accountable could embolden criminal elements and undermine ongoing efforts to tackle insecurity across the country.

The bishops advocated far-reaching security reforms, including improved intelligence gathering, enhanced surveillance of forests and ungoverned spaces, deployment of modern security technology and the establishment of state police.

State policing, backed by appropriate safeguards and oversight mechanisms, would improve community-based intelligence gathering, enable faster responses to security threats, and strengthen collaboration between security agencies and local residents, they said.

They argued that Nigeria’s diverse security challenges require decentralised approaches capable of addressing threats in different regions, emphasising that sustainable peace, national healing and unity can only be achieved where justice, accountability and support for victims are prioritised.

A diocese in northern Nigeria also issued an appeal for stronger security measures after reporting scores of deaths and mass displacement over the past year.

The Diocese of Wukari in Taraba state reported that violence in the region killed 80 Catholics and destroyed over 200 church communities since September 2025, causing the displacement of 90,000 people.

The Bishop Mark Maigida Nzukwein of Wukari said suspected Fulani militia who carry out these attacks usually come in the early hours, mostly while people are sleeping, and launch the attacks, killing anyone in sight and setting houses and harvests ablaze.

He said militiamen have also seized farms from local people and would attack anybody who dares return, killing men and raping some women.

“There have been instances where they block the roads and kill unsuspecting and harmless farmers with impunity. Most recently, the militiamen have resorted to harvesting the farm produce of displaced communities and feeding same to their animals,” he said in a briefing in his office last week.

“The Fulani militia crisis situation in southern Taraba state has lingered and continues to pose an existential threat to life, as well as a serious challenge to the growth of the Christian faith and infrastructural development of the area. This crisis does not only cost lives and property – it also greatly infringes on the religious freedom of Christians in the affected communities,” he said.

Bishop Nzukwein welcomed some security measures but called for “an extension of the same timely intervention to address and put an end to the carnage that has been going on in Chanchanji Ward and other parts of Takum, Ussa and, more recently, parts of Donga Local Government Area”. 

He said that much more will be achieved “if the government pays keen attention to the crisis and scales up its constitutional role to protect lives and property”.

“As a matter of urgency, adequate security personnel should be mobilised and deployed to the hinterlands where this carnage is taking place unabated,” he said.

“The government at all levels must be deliberate in ensuring security guarantees and bringing enablers and perpetrators of these dastardly acts or heinous crimes against humanity to justice through their immediate arrest and prosecution, irrespective of their ethnic, political and religious affiliations.”

He called on “the government, humanitarian agencies at all levels, NGOs, philanthropists” and people of goodwill” to respond to the plight of internally displaced persons, who need “relief materials such as foodstuffs, bedding, toiletries, medical healthcare, and temporary tents in order to guarantee their overall well-being so as to avert a major humanitarian disaster”.

“It is also expedient for major key players such as the traditional rulers, religious leaders, security agencies, local government chairmen and other political leaders in the affected area to meet and engage sincerely in constructive dialogue aimed at fostering lasting peace and stability in the Southern Taraba State region,” the bishop said.

“If all these efforts fail and it seems that the state can no longer guarantee the security of the lives and property of our people, we would have no option than to seek help from the international community.”

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