Former Chief of Army Staff and ex-Minister of Interior, Lt.-Gen. Abdulrahman Bello Dambazau (rtd), has said the Boko Haram insurgency stemmed from a major policing error in 2009.
Speaking at the 7th Annual Lecture of the Just Friends Club of Nigeria (JFCN) in Abuja, themed “Nigeria’s Security Challenges and the Quest for National Cohesion: A New Paradigm for Internal Security Architecture and Governance,” Dambazau said the crisis that ravaged the North-East began as a minor law enforcement issue that was mishandled by the police.
He traced the insurgency to an incident in Maiduguri when police officers clashed with followers of Boko Haram founder Mohammed Yusuf over a motorcycle helmet law. “The police shot a few of them, and Yusuf vowed revenge. Weeks later, they began attacking police stations,” he recounted.
Dambazau said then-President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua ordered a military operation to crush the group’s base in Maiduguri. After the operation, the military handed over Yusuf and others to the police, but “unfortunately, the police executed Yusuf on camera. The video went viral and helped the sect gain sympathy and new recruits. That was the real beginning of Boko Haram,” he said.
On the rise of banditry in the North-West, the retired general blamed years of poverty, neglect, and poor governance. “You can’t solve insecurity with bullets alone. Banditry thrives on unemployment, hunger, and weak local governance,” he noted.
Dambazau criticised the increasing deployment of soldiers for internal security, saying it undermines their constitutional role. “The military is everywhere doing roadblocks and checkpoints. That’s not their job,” he said, urging state governments to prioritise education and healthcare as the foundations of human security.
He also accused both the executive and legislative arms of government of mismanaging defence funds. “Many items in the defence budget are contractor-driven and irrelevant. Sometimes, less than 40 percent of the approved budget is released,” he stated.
Dambazau stressed that investing in the military alone cannot end insecurity without investing in people. He dismissed claims by some Western groups of a “Christian genocide” in Nigeria, describing them as propaganda meant to distort global perception.
According to estimates, the Boko Haram insurgency has killed over 35,000 people and displaced about 2.5 million since 2009.
