•Commends Tinubu for forest guard law

By PETER ANOSIKE

A public and political affairs analyst, Prince Nixon Okwara, has declared that a silent war is rising stealthily to engulf Nigeria.

Okwara, who is also a security expert and social crusader, said that unknown to most Nigerians, some foreign powers are using non-state actors to fight proxy war in the country.

Speaking in a telephone interview with selected media houses he said that for over a decade, Nigeria has been caught in the grip of a war that the nation has never officially declared but that one which every village burnt, every child kidnapped, and every family displaced confirms the reality.

According to him, this is not simply a conflict of criminality but a proxy war, waged on Nigeria’s soil by non-state actors being backed overtly or covertly by regional and global hegemons seeking to destabilize the largest black nation on earth.

In this interview, he also spoke on other national issues.

Excerpt:

Where is this war you are talking about being fought?

The forests are the battle grounds for this war and from there they would advance into the cities. From Sambisa forest in Bornu state to Zamfara and from Niger to Ondo forests, the forest belt has become the hiding place, training ground and command center of bandits, terrorists, and insurgents. However, a new tool of hope and resilience has emerged which is the Forest Guard Law, recently endorsed by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and I hope with the emergence of this group, the terrorists and bandits would now be taking head on. That is what the previous administrations ought to have done. It is the lack of this that has allowed the terrorists to spread to the nooks and crannies of the country.

So you feel that forest guards would have answer to this insecurity?

Absolutely .What we need is a homegrown and well equipped frontline which is the Forest Guard Initiative. The recent executive order to arm, train, and deploy 130,000 Forest Guards nationwide represents a watershed moment in Nigeria’s national security architecture. For the first time in decades, there is a concerted effort to return security to the hands of communities, with the government giving them both legal backing and firepower. This is not vigilante justice. It is a structured, regulated, and integrated community defense — a homegrown security solution tailored to Nigeria’s terrain, people, and conflict realities. But I want to warn that this initiative cannot succeed without proactive engagement by state governors, who are constitutionally empowered to protect lives and property within their jurisdictions.

When are they going to be given the marching order?

That is a very good question. Now is the time to act — not tomorrow, not next quarter. The moment is urgent but again those who ignited the fire cannot be the firefighters. The reason for this is simple. It would be naïve to entrust the full burden of forest reclamation to those who either allowed or ignored its descent into chaos. It is clear that many state executives have used the insecurity as a political weapon. Many state executives have allowed banditry and terrorism to flourish under their watch. We cannot deny the reality that many criminal networks now embedded in our forests flourished under political silence, negligence, or complicity. The actors who watched the fire smolder cannot credibly put it out.

So, what do you think should be dome in this regard?

We need a complete break from the past. You cannot use the same mindset that you used to cause a problem to solve the same problem. In fact, what we need are new actors – Hunters, Vigilante corps, community heads , retired servicemen. That is people of integrity, coordinated under legal cover, armed for defense, and monitored through accountability structures. That is the way to go. Whoever is to be recruited into the forest service guard must be thoroughly vetted. If he is a retired service man, he must have served meritoriously and not people who were sacked for one crime or the other.

Is there anywhere In the world where what you are talking about has worked?

Yes. Community defense works and it is currently working in Kaduna State. Consider the recent community-led defense effort in Southern Kaduna, where coordinated resistance, in collaboration with local authorities, repelled a wave of attacks that could have otherwise claimed hundreds of lives. Communities organized patrols, established early warning systems, and stood firm with intelligence-sharing cells. This proves one powerful truth: When people are empowered, they will protect their homes. This is the future of national defense in asymmetric warfare: Bottom-up, not top-down.

What are the Nigerian Military and Nigerian Police whose responsibility it is to protect and defend the people doing about this?

We must salute the Nigerian Army and the Police Force. Against all odds, with limited resources and under crushing pressure, they have held the line and pushing back insurgents from occupying major cities and foiling plots that could have brought the country to its knees. However, let’s be clear. No conventional force can win an unconventional war alone. The military was not designed to permanently occupy forests or man every village. Their success depends on a civilian security ecosystem — people who know the terrain, the faces, the language, the culture. We can take examples from Hezbollah’s community defense in Lebanon, Vietnam’s people-militia model…all point to one lesson: Wars like this are won by the people, with the military as backup — not the reverse.

Is Nigeria the only country where proxy war is being fought?

Certainly not. Even great nations fell to proxy wars. From Libya to Syria, Yemen to Ukraine, we have seen how proxy wars orchestrated by geopolitical heavyweights have devastated once-thriving nations. In most cases. State institutions crumbled. Local defenses were weakened or become nonexistent and foreign interests have hijacked national narrative. Yet Nigeria, for over a decade, has resisted total collapse thanks largely to the bravery of our forces and the resilience of our people. But let’s be honest. Resilience is not infinite. Without reinforcing local defenses now, we risk sliding into a darker phase of national fragmentation.

With all that you have said, what is the way forward?

The way forward are as follows: Immediate implementation of forest guards in all states of the federation. Governors must urgently activate recruitment, training, and equipping of forest guards based on the federal framework. Formal community intelligence networks: States should invest in digital and human-based intelligence systems rooted in community observation. Legal backing for local security frameworks. Harmonize vigilante and hunter groups into a unified forest guard system with oversight and official recognition. Joint Operations with Armed Forces; Encourage inter-agency cooperation to avoid overlap and maximize effectiveness. Public transparency and accountability all forest guard operations must be tracked, reported, and audited to prevent abuse and build trust. There is no denying the reality that Nigeria is not at peace but all hope is not lost. The Forest Guard Law is more than a policy. It is a call to arms for responsible governance and empowered citizenship. Governors must rise. Not as political administrators, but as wartime leaders. Communities must organize not as mobs, but as coordinated, trained defenders. The fire is burning. But this time, we must let new hands hold the hose. If we act now decisively and collectively Nigeria can become the first African nation to not only survive a prolonged proxy war, but to win it from the roots up.