By Peter Omopo
A retired United States Army captain, Bish Johnson, has cautioned that Nigeria’s security challenges cannot be resolved through a single military strike, describing the country’s insecurity as complex and multifaceted.
Johnson made the remarks on Friday night during an interview on ARISE News while reacting to recent United States airstrikes against terrorist targets in north-western Nigeria.
On Christmas Day, United States President Donald Trump announced that American forces had carried out deadly strikes against Islamic State militants operating in the region, warning that further action would follow if attacks on Christians continued. Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs later confirmed the operation, noting that it was carried out in collaboration with the United States as part of a structured security cooperation aimed at combating terrorism and violent extremism.
However, Johnson argued that terrorism represents only one aspect of Nigeria’s broader security crisis.
“If we don’t diagnose our problem correctly, we are going to come up with the wrong solution,” he said. “Inasmuch as there is an element of terrorism in the North-West, the problem is much more complicated than it is being simplified.”
He pointed to long-standing herder–farmer clashes in the Middle Belt, which he said have claimed thousands of lives and continue to pose serious security challenges.
“Nobody has talked about the issue of herder-farmer clashes, which have claimed so many lives in the Middle Belt, and it is still ongoing,” he noted.
According to Johnson, Nigeria faces a combination of security threats, including communal violence and religious tensions, which cannot be addressed by isolated military actions.
“So Nigeria has a multifaceted insecurity problem that this one strike cannot address,” he said, adding that issues surrounding the implementation of Sharia law in parts of northern Nigeria also contribute to the complexity of the situation.
The security consultant further cited cases of religious violence, referencing the killing of Deborah Samuel, a Christian student who was lynched by her classmates in Sokoto State in 2022 over allegations of blasphemy.
“Unfortunately, we saw what happened in Sokoto State, where a young lady, Deborah Samuel, was lynched and stoned to death in broad daylight by her fellow schoolmates,” he said.
Johnson lamented that no one has been held accountable for the killing, describing it as one of several incidents shaping international perceptions of Nigeria.
“Up till now, none of the people responsible for the death of that innocent young lady have been brought to justice,” he said. “These are some of the issues the Americans are observing, which is why they are tagging this as religious persecution.”
He added that such incidents make it difficult for Nigeria to counter claims of religious intolerance abroad.
“It’s difficult to convince Americans otherwise when you have situations like what happened in Sokoto—and that’s not the only place where similar incidents have occurred and people have not been brought to book,” Johnson said.
