The Conference of Autochthonous Ethnic Nationalities Community Development Associations has raised fresh alarm over worsening insecurity across the country, lamenting that forests and grazing reserves in many parts of Nigeria have become operational bases for terrorists and criminal elements.
Addressing a press conference in Jos on Monday, the Secretary-General of the organisation, Suleman Sukukum, alongside the President of CONAECDA, Danladi Jeji, said the rising wave of attacks and killings across several states showed that insecurity was fast spreading to new frontiers.
According to the group, the recent attacks in Niger, Kwara and Kogi states have further exposed the fragile security situation in the country, while violent incidents continue in Benue, Plateau, Nasarawa, Taraba, Borno, Adamawa, Bauchi and Kaduna states.
Sukukum and Jeji also expressed concern over reports of a massive influx of herders into remote and inaccessible parts of the Federal Capital Territory, warning that the development poses serious security threats to residents of Abuja and surrounding communities.
“There are reports indicating that nearly all forests and grazing reserves across the country now host sleeper cells or active terrorist groups,” they revealed.
