Description: Armed bandits attacked a church in the Nigerian town of Eruku, killing at least two people and kidnapping several others. Authorities responded to the attack with one of the armed gunman being fatally shot upon initial contact with the local police and another was discovered dead near the church shortly after. Nigerian President, Bola Tinubu, cancelled his trip to the G20 Summit in South Africa due to the attack and the kidnapping of the 25 schoolgirls on 17 Nov. The country is facing considerable security threats on multiple fronts as Islamist insurgencies are primarily active in the northeastern parts of the country, abductions and murders are common in the northwestern parts while Muslim herders and Christian farmers are regularly engaged in armed clashes in the central parts of Nigeria. US President Donald Trump recently threatened Nigeria’s government with military intervention in case it fails to establish control and subvert attacks on the Christian population in the country.
Impact: Nigeria’s multi vectored security crisis is continuing to demonstrate the lack of capacities, resources and capabilities of the country’s security forces to engage in resolving the complex portfolio of threats across several regions. Pressure from the US hasn’t resulted in any concrete measures undertaken by the government in order to combat the Islamist insurgencies, the bandits and the religious violence in the country. The US is unlikely to directly intervene at this point in time, however, with Nigeria’s rapidly declining security situation, some forms of covert or overt operations and more serious dedication of resources in supportive role should be expected. The UN has formally adopted the Sahel and the sub – Saharan region of Africa to be heavily impacted by terrorism which indicates that without a joint comprehensive plan of countering these threats, countries like Nigeria would further suffer significant ramifications to its stability, economy and development initiatives.