President Bola Tinubu on Friday announced a sweeping reset of Nigeria’s national security architecture, unveiling a new counterterrorism doctrine that classifies all armed groups operating outside state authority as terrorists, including bandits, militias, armed gangs, and their political or community enablers.

Speaking during the presentation of the 2026 Appropriation Bill to a joint session of the National Assembly, Tinubu said the new security overhaul represents a “holistic redesign” of Nigeria’s security framework, anchored on unified command, intelligence coordination, community stability and counter-insurgency operations.

“Our administration is resetting the national security architecture and establishing a new national counterterrorism doctrine; a holistic redesign anchored on unified command, intelligence, community stability, and counter-insurgency,” the president said.

“This new doctrine will fundamentally change how we confront terrorism and other violent crimes that have become existential threats to our corporate survival and have heightened anxiety among our people.”

Under the new framework, Tinubu said the government will no longer draw distinctions between different categories of violent non-state actors, declaring that any armed group acting outside the authority of the state would henceforth be treated as terrorists.

“Henceforth, and under this new architecture, any armed group or gun-wielding non-state actors operating outside state authority will be regarded as terrorists,” he said.

He listed those affected to include “bandits, militias, armed gangs, criminal networks with weapons, armed robbers, violent cult groups, forest-based armed collectives, and foreign-linked mercenaries,” adding that groups or individuals carrying out violence for “political, ethnic, financial, or sectarian objectives” would also fall under the terrorist classification.

Tinubu further warned that groups involved in extortion, kidnapping, or territorial control would face the same designation.

“Members of any group extorting communities, kidnapping civilians, occupying or seeking to occupy territory within Nigeria will be classified as terrorists,” he said.

“The denominator is that if you wield lethal weapons and act outside the state’s authority, you are a terrorist.”

Beyond armed actors, the president extended the classification to those who support or enable violent groups, including financiers and political intermediaries.

“Any individual or entity that enables the listed groups as financiers, money handlers, harbourers, informants, ransom facilitators, and negotiators will also be classified as terrorists,” Tinubu said.

He added that “political protectors and intermediaries, transporters, arms suppliers, and safe-house owners will be declared as terrorists,” while warning that even influential figures would not be exempt.

“Politicians, traditional rulers, community leaders, and religious leaders who facilitate and encourage violent actions and terror within Nigeria and against our citizens are also terrorists,” the president said. (BusinessDay)

Update news