Koko Maxwella 
ABUJA, Nigeria – The Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum (SMBLF) has condemned the surge of terror attacks, killings and abductions across several states, warning that Nigeria is “sliding into a dangerous national crisis.”
The leaders issued the alarm on Wednesday following a meeting in Abuja.
The forum cited the killing of Brigadier-General Uba Musa in a Sunday ambush by Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) fighters in Borno, the abduction of 25 schoolgirls in Kebbi, and the attack on worshippers at a Christ Apostolic Church in Kwara as evidence of an escalating security breakdown.
“These coordinated attacks are deeply distressing and completely unacceptable,” said His Royal Majesty Oba Oladipo Olaitan, who read the communiqué. “The Federal Government must immediately halt the violent acts of extremists determined to carry out ethnic cleansing within Nigeria’s borders.”
The leaders also expressed concern over what they described as attempts by the ruling party to create a “de facto one-party state” through orchestrated political defections and internal destabilisation of the opposition. The forum condemned what it called a “barbaric show-of-shame” at the Peoples Democratic Party headquarters on Tuesday involving a serving minister and several governors.
According to the communiqué, credible reports indicate that many recent victims of violence are indigenous Christian populations, while the perpetrators are allegedly drawn largely from Fulani and Kanuri groups “from within and outside the country.”
SMBLF called for greater federal openness to global partners, including the United States, insisting that unilateral approaches are inadequate. The group urged the government to deploy maximum resources to rescue the abducted schoolgirls and to publish a comprehensive plan for rehabilitating displaced communities in the Middle Belt.
“We extend our condolences to the families of General Uba and all victims,” the forum stated. “Nigeria cannot survive without justice, security and equity.”
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Edino Chubiyo Cornelius 
Otamere Gladness 
Oluwatobi Adu