A retired United States Army Captain, Bish Johnson, has warned that Nigeria’s deepening security crisis cannot be resolved through a single military action, stressing that the country is grappling with a complex and multi-layered insecurity challenge.
Johnson made this known during an interview on ARISE News on Friday night while reacting to recent US airstrikes against terrorist targets in North-West Nigeria.
On Christmas Day, US President Donald Trump announced that American forces had carried out deadly strikes against Islamic State militants operating in the region, threatening further action if attacks on Christians continued. Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs later confirmed the strikes, describing them as part of structured security cooperation with the United States aimed at combating terrorism and violent extremism.
However, Johnson cautioned against oversimplifying Nigeria’s security problems by focusing only on terrorism.
“If we don’t diagnose our problem correctly, we are going to come up with the wrong solution,” he said. “While there is an element of terrorism in the North-West, the problem is far more complicated than it is being presented.”
He pointed to the long-running herder-farmer clashes in the Middle Belt, which he said have claimed thousands of lives but often receive less attention.
“Nobody talks about the herder-farmer clashes that have killed so many people in the Middle Belt, yet the crisis is still ongoing,” Johnson noted.
The security consultant added that Nigeria’s insecurity also includes sensitive religious and legal issues, including the application of Sharia law in parts of northern Nigeria.
He further cited incidents of religious violence, including the killing of Deborah Samuel, a Christian student who was lynched by fellow students in Sokoto State in 2022 over allegations of blasphemy.
“Unfortunately, we all saw what happened in Sokoto, where a young lady, Deborah Samuel, was lynched and stoned to death in broad daylight by her classmates,” Johnson said.
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He expressed concern that no one has been held accountable for the killing, describing it as one of several incidents shaping international perceptions of Nigeria.
“Up till now, none of those responsible for the death of that innocent young lady have been brought to justice. These are some of the things Americans look at when they describe what is happening as religious persecution,” he said.
According to Johnson, incidents like this make it difficult for Nigeria to counter allegations of religious intolerance.
“It becomes hard to convince people otherwise when cases like the one in Sokoto—and others like it—happen without accountability,” he added.
