Terror Groups Plotting to Form Parallel State in Nigeria

Former presidential candidate, Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, has raised serious concerns over the growing threat of insurgency in Nigeria, warning that a network of terror groups with international affiliations is plotting to establish a breakaway state within the country.

Reacting to the recent massacre in Yelewata, Benue State, Olawepo-Hashim described the attack as part of a broader, more sophisticated insurgency sweeping across the northern region. He called on Nigerians from all backgrounds—ethnic, religious, and political—to unite in confronting this existential threat.

He criticized the Federal Government for its delay in implementing critical reforms, including the decentralization of policing and the creation of State and Local Police. He questioned whether the delay was due to incompetence or silent complicity.

“What we are seeing in Benue and other states is not just random violence, but a coordinated assault by armed groups aiming to carve out a parallel governance structure,” he stated.

According to him, this so-called “adaptive insurgency” has spread beyond Benue and the Northeast, engulfing parts of the Northwest—Zamfara, Kaduna, Kebbi, and sections of Katsina—where people face daily threats to their lives, livelihoods, and dignity.

He also warned that this insurgency is advancing into the North Central and even Southern regions of Nigeria, citing recent activities in states like Kwara, Ekiti, Ondo, and Kogi.

Since 2014, he argued, the APC has been adept at winning elections but has failed—or chosen not—to develop a working strategy to tackle insecurity and poverty. Olawepo-Hashim implied that some individuals in power might even be aligned with these extremist forces.

He urged the government to act decisively before the nation is further destabilized by what he called a “mortal alliance” of terrorists with the goal of establishing a rival state within Nigeria’s borders.