Amid wanton killings and kidnapping for ransom,  former defence minister Theophilus Danjuma has charged Nigerians to rise in self-defence against armed bandits and kidnappers.

“I know we have a lot of problems, including security, as recently as two or three days ago,” Mr Danjuma said. “We have experienced kidnapping, the threat of kidnapping will continue until we, every one of us, rise up and defend ourselves.”

He made the rallying call at an event held at Takum LGA in Taraba on Saturday.

Mr Danjuma said, “It is quite clear the government alone cannot do it. I warned a very long time ago, in a speech in Wukari, that our people must be prepared to defend themselves.

“That warning is as valid today as it was when I made it.”

In 2018, Mr Danjuma, at the convocation of the Taraba State University in Jalingo, raised the alarm that Nigeria’s forces “are not neutral” in the pillaging and decimation of communities in the state.

“They collude with the armed bandits to kill people, kill Nigerians,” he alleged.

Recently, over 150 people have been killed in Borno, Benue, Plateau and Zamfara.

In Plateau, over 100 people were killed by gunmen in the past two week, while over 50 people were killed in Benue in very recent attacks.

On Saturday, Matthew Kukah, bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto, in his Easter homily, said, “Every day, innocent citizens are kidnapped and held under the most inhuman conditions.”

“Mr President, Nigeria is reaching a breaking point. The nation is gradually becoming a huge national morgue. With a greater sense of urgency, hasten to bring us down from this cross of evil.”