Former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice (AGF), Michael Aondoakaa, SAN, has recalled how the administration of late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua adopted a zero-tolerance approach to banditry, warning that a similar decisive response is now urgently needed to avert a looming hunger crisis in Benue State.
Speaking during an interview on Arise Television on Thursday, January 15, 2026, Aondoakaa said the scale of bandit attacks in Benue had gone beyond security concerns and now posed a serious threat to food security, insisting that politics must be completely set aside.
“When this crisis started, during President Yar’Adua’s time, because I always refer to where I was an active participant, what the government adopted was no mercy,” Aondoakaa said.
“There was zero tolerance of mercy on the bandits. Anywhere we heard there was concentration, our military used to go there to flush them out.”
Naijaonpoint reports that Aondoakaa raised alarm that bandit attacks have displaced thousands of farmers across Benue, a predominantly agrarian state, warning that the consequences could be catastrophic.
“This is a situation that politics should be completely set aside because you are talking of a situation where 80 per cent in Benue State are farmers and the farmers have been displaced,” he said.
“There’s a potential danger of hunger that’s more serious than the mayhem being caused by the bandits.”
The former justice minister said armed bandits are increasingly shifting their operations into the Benue Valley, particularly Benue State and surrounding areas, where they are now occupying entire communities.
He cited the Ukum Local Government Area as a major flashpoint.
“I will give you a particular local government, which is the Ukum Local Government. Out of 13 wards, there’s an occupation of 10 wards,” he said.
According to Aondoakaa, the situation has become even more alarming as bandits have established camps dangerously close to key commercial and agricultural centres.
“At the main market in Ukum, which is the exact main market that produces yams for the country, they have settled less than three kilometres away from the market. And that is alarming,” Aondoakaa added.
‘Bandits Are Overturning Villages’
Aondoakaa said intelligence suggests that as bandits move away from parts of the North-West, they are now concentrating in the Benue axis in large numbers.
“As the bandits are moving away from Sokoto, concentrating within the Benue Valley, particularly around Benue State and their environs, they are causing mayhem,” he said.
“They are overturning villages. It looks like they have come in numbers.”
Call for US-Nigeria collaboration
The former AGF called on the Federal Government to deepen collaboration with international partners, especially the United States, to combat banditry in Benue and other affected areas.
According to him, such cooperation does not in any way undermine Nigeria’s sovereignty.
“I still think that collaborating with the U.S. or any other country to flush out the bandits does not in any way undermine the integrity of this country,” he said.
“I have faith, great hope, in the security architecture of President Bola Tinubu now. But it goes beyond having faith in government. It goes to practical action.”
Aondoakaa cited the recent joint Nigerian-U.S. security operation in Sokoto State as a model that should be replicated in Benue, where bandits are reportedly regrouping.
“My call was in good faith. It did not in any way undermine the sovereignty of this country,” he said.
“The Nigerian government gave the intelligence. The Americans did not just come here. The Minister of Foreign Affairs was emphatic that the strike in Sokoto was a collaboration between the Americans and the Nigerian government.”
He urged authorities to deploy the Nigerian Air Force or activate similar international partnerships if domestic capacity is insufficient.
“Anywhere there is concentration, the bandits are concentrating. There’s need for either the Nigerian Air Force to move in, or if they do not have the capacity, then the same collaboration that happened with the U.S. government should be used to flush them out,” he said.
‘Food Security At Stake’
Aondoakaa stressed that the crisis in Benue goes beyond insecurity and has direct implications for Nigeria’s food supply, given the state’s role as a major food-producing hub.
“This is why politics must be set aside,” he said.
“When 80 per cent of the population are farmers and they are displaced, the danger of hunger becomes more serious than the mayhem itself.”
He warned that unless decisive action is taken urgently, Benue, and by extension the country, could face severe food shortages in the months ahead.