SPOTLIGHT: Nigeria Experienced Carnage Under Abubakar as Defence Minister While Terrorists Rake in Trillions
PIJAlance examines the harrowing security experiences of Nigerians between May 2023, when Abubakar took office, and December 1, 2025, when he resigned.
On December 1, 2025, the news broke that the now-former Defence Minister, Alhaji Badaru Abubakar, had resigned from his position, citing health challenges. The announcement quickly stirred national controversy, with the name “Abubakar” trending, as Nigerians expressed a range of unflattering sentiments. For many, his resignation was seen as long overdue, given the devastating security crises that unfolded under his tenure.
A two-time former governor of Jigawa State, Abubakar’s academic background in accounting raised questions about his qualifications to manage the nation’s security affairs. However, as is often the case with Nigerian political appointments, logic and norms were not the guiding principles. In Nigeria, a professor of geology might be appointed to manage the national treasury, while an accountant may be given the responsibility of overseeing national security. This has become a familiar feature of Nigeria’s political game, as in Kingsley Tochukwu Udeh, Abubakar and Bello Mattawalle.
President Bola Tinubu, however, appears to be taking a more informed approach this time. His nomination of the recently dismissed General Christopher Musa as the new Defence Minister has brought a sense of relief. General Musa, with his extensive experience in Nigeria’s security challenges, is seen as a more fitting choice. Though not enough without the necessary equipment to upscale the strength and morale of the Armed Forces to effectively combat terrorism.
Nonetheless, Abubakar’s tenure as Defence Minister cannot be overlooked. His term serves as a cautionary tale for the new appointee, a reminder of the grave security failures that occurred under his leadership. PIJAlance examines the harrowing security experiences of Nigerians between May 2023, when Abubakar took office, and December 1, 2025, when he resigned.
The Carnage That Happened Under Abubakar, former Defence Minister in Nigeria
Carnage is the widespread violent killing of a large number of people. Under Abubakar, Nigeria experienced carnage with nearly 700,000 killed, over 2.2 million kidnapped and more than N2trn collected in ransom by terrorists.
Meanwhile, this was not the case in the years before Abubakar took over the office in 2023. At least, not that bad. For example, a report which sourced security data from the National Security Tracker (NST), an initiative of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), and the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), noted that no less than 3,841 people were reportedly killed by terrorists. In contrast, 4,243 others were kidnapped in 2023. This was before Abubakar took office.
But between May 2023 and April 2024, when Abubakar retained his position as the Defence Minister, Nigeria’s security architecture had deteriorated, with the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (NBS) putting the figure of the kidnapped victims at more than 2 million, while the killed were at 614,937. A total of N2.2trn was also paid in ransom.
The statistics quadrupled in 2025, with Nigeria experiencing one of its worst kidnap cases in history, following the abduction of over 300 schoolgirls in Niger State, including teachers and a school vice principal shot dead. Reports of kidnapping have also emerged from Kebbi and Kaduna States, with a priest dying in kidnappers’ custody.
‘Inch Away’: now-former Defence Minister Responses to Kidnapping and Terrorism
Abubakar has always given surprising remarks when it comes to terrorists’ operations in Nigeria. In the weeks leading up to his resignation, Abubakar had said that Nigeria’s military “bombs cannot penetrate forests” where bandits hide, a statement so many Nigerians have described as a “national insolence to Nigeria’s Armed Forces”, implying a technical and terrain constraint preventing decisive action.
Before this, Abubakar had also asserted that Nigeria is “inches away from crushing banditry”, even as mass abductions of schoolchildren from Niger State occurred just days or weeks later after his statement.
At one time, the former Zamfara State Governor had also made a broad claim that the Armed Forces “know their locations” but refrain from strikes because of risk to civilians, a justification often cited when military operations fail, yet without the release of verified maps, intelligence data or after-action reports.
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Michael Obisesan
Obisesan studied Mass Communication with flair of broadcast and multimedia journalism. His interests span business, entertainment, crime, and corruption with a touch of investigations.
