Former Minister of Youth and Sports, Solomon Dalung, has warned that the federal government’s persistent failure to release the list of terror sponsors and financiers is strengthening criminal groups across the country. Dalung issued the warning during his interview on Trust TV News on Monday, November 24, 2025, insisting that repeated unfulfilled promises by top security officials have contributed to escalating violence.
He recalled public assurances made by successive officials. “They promised they were going to publish it. The immediate past Chief of Defence Staff, General Musa, not too long before he was retired, said the same thing, that very soon we will release the list of these terrorist sponsors, financiers, and all this. And still, we are yet to have the list,” he said. According to him, every unkept promise only fuels more attacks. “But each time they make such pronouncements, the terrorists are emboldened and they escalate the pattern of the attack,” Dalung stated.
He added that the behaviour of the armed groups suggests a level of protection within the political structure. “So, it does suggest to me, this is my opinion now, that the terrorists themselves are more comfortable because they have so much of their partners within the political space and system,” he said. Dalung argued that this claim is difficult to dismiss given the nature of negotiations carried out by some state governments. “And this is not something we can disbelieve easily, because when you look at the negotiation going between state government and the bandits, the one that escalated my BP, it has not dropped till now, was the one that took place in Katsina,” he noted. He described the incident that shocked him most. “Where a bandit killed an assistant commissioner in Dutsinma, took his uniform, and when they invited him for the so-called the ignoble peace deal, he came with the uniform of the assistant commissioner of police,” he said.
Dalung said security personnel were present but did not object. “Policemen whom he was the assistant commissioner commanding them were there. Soldiers were there. The so-called Nigerian politicians who would suddenly turn negotiators were there, and the bandit was celebrated,” he recounted. He concluded with a stark warning: “Summarizing this, the take here would be the conclusion I made, that there are more bandit partners.”
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