Jun 4, 2026

Seun Okinbaloye begs Nigerians: Unite or die one by one

By Afolabi Olaiya Idowu in news

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In a powerful and deeply emotional plea that has resonated across a weary nation, veteran journalist Seun Okinbaloye of Channels Television has declared “enough is enough.”

Speaking on his flagship programme Politics Today, Okinbaloye confronted the unrelenting wave of killings, abductions, and terror that continues to tear at the fabric of Nigeria, urging citizens to transcend their divisions and confront a common enemy.

His message arrives at a time when Nigeria’s security crisis has reached alarming proportions.

In the first three months of 2026 alone, reports indicate over 2,350 Nigerians were killed and more than 1,100 abducted.

From the February 2026 massacre in Kwara State’s Woro and Nuku villages—where jihadist militants slaughtered over 200 people, many burned alive, and kidnapped dozens more— to repeated herder attacks in Plateau and Benue states claiming scores of lives, the violence spares no one.

Banditry in the Northwest, Boko Haram and ISWAP insurgencies in the Northeast, and farmer-herder clashes have created a deadly convergence.

Schools have become hunting grounds, with thousands of students abducted since the infamous 2014 Chibok kidnapping.

Ransoms running into trillions of naira have turned human lives into a grotesque industry, while entire communities live in fear, their futures mortgaged by AK-47s and motorcycles.

Okinbaloye cut through the usual political noise with rare moral clarity:

“Terror does not ask for your tribe, faith, region, or political affiliation before it strikes.”

He acknowledged the need for criticism and accountability but insisted that, above all, Nigerians must stand united. This is not empty rhetoric.

Decades of ethnic, religious, and partisan fault lines have often weakened collective responses to national threats. Yet history shows that when Nigerians unite—whether against colonial rule or in moments of disaster—they prove formidable.

The human cost is gut-wrenching: families shattered, children robbed of education, farmers abandoning ancestral lands, and a generation growing up knowing only fear.

Women and girls bear a disproportionate burden, frequently targeted in raids.

The economic toll is equally devastating, with billions lost to insecurity while investors flee.

Okinbaloye’s call is both a lament and a challenge. Nigeria stands at a crossroads. Continued division will only embolden the merchants of death.

Genuine unity—citizens demanding better from leaders while supporting security efforts—offers the only path forward.

The killings must stop. The abductions must end. For the sake of the living and the memory of the dead, Nigerians must choose solidarity over self-destruction.