Are Nigerian leaders aiding bandit terror?
Intelligence services in Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso say they are investigating senior Nigerian politicians suspected of supporting armed groups fueling insecurity across West Africa.
The coordinated probe, first reported by DW Hausa and circulated by counter-insurgency analyst Zagazola Makama, suggests some Nigerian political figures may be financing militants and facilitating cross-border arms flows.
According to security officials quoted in the reports, several gunrunners with links to Nigerian “kingpins” have been arrested while moving weapons across the Nigeria–Niger border. Investigators claim the scale of these transactions is “alarming” and allege that some politicians used state funds, under the guise of peace negotiations, to bankroll militant networks.
The allegations come amid a broader security push by the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso, formed after their withdrawal from ECOWAS in early 2024. The bloc, isolated after successive coups, has intensified intelligence sharing and military cooperation to combat jihadist groups, Boko Haram factions, and armed bandits. Thousands of civilians have been killed and millions displaced in the Sahel in recent years, according to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and International Crisis Group.
Nigeria’s Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, acknowledged last month that individuals within the country are financing terrorism, but said legal and international complications had delayed naming them.
“Some of them have funds coming from outside; we cannot do anything from within,” Musa told Nigerian media.
Nigeria faces one of the world’s fastest-growing internal displacement crises, with banditry in the northwest driving mass kidnappings, raids on villages, and attacks on security forces.
The AES investigations, if substantiated, risk exposing political complicity at the highest levels in Abuja. For international partners, including the EU and the U.S., the revelations highlight the need for tighter financial oversight, cross-border intelligence cooperation, and accountability mechanisms to prevent state-linked actors from fueling violence in the Sahel and beyond.
This story is written and edited by the Global South World team, you can contact us here.
