ABUJA — Ahead of the 2027 general elections, a prominent presidential hopeful under the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Mohammed Hayatu-Deen, has vowed to formally designate armed bandits and kidnapping syndicates as terrorist organisations on his first day in office if elected commander-in-chief.
The renowned economist and veteran banker declared that Nigeria can no longer afford a culture of political rhetoric and endless negotiations while widespread insecurity and organised criminality push the nation to the brink of collapse.
Hayatu-Deen made the remarks on Friday, May 15, 2026, during a town hall meeting organised by the “Team Rebuild” initiative in Abuja. Addressing party loyalists, stakeholders, and members of the FCT ADC State Working Committee, the aspirant outlined a sweeping, zero-tolerance national security doctrine designed to restore public confidence in state institutions.
Cracking Down via the Terrorism Act
The security crisis in Nigeria has escalated significantly in recent years, with rural communities, highways, and schools across the North-West, North-Central, and North-East regions facing relentless assaults. Security experts have frequently faulted the federal government’s counter-insurgency framework, citing a lack of deterrent prosecutions and weak inter-agency intelligence sharing.
Hayatu-Deen insisted that the “normalisation of fear” must end, promising to leverage existing statutory powers to dismantle criminal financing.
“That is why, on Day One of my administration, bandits and kidnapping syndicates will be formally designated as terrorist organisations,” Hayatu-Deen asserted. “Every bandit and every kidnapper will be prosecuted under the Terrorism Act. The assets of individuals and networks financing criminality will be identified and frozen. And the era of negotiating endlessly with violent criminal networks must come to an end.”
Under the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, a formal executive designation empowers security agencies with aggressive assets-seizure capabilities, international financial tracking, and significantly heavier judicial penalties for both active actors and their logistical backbeats.
A Personal Scar: “My Sister Was Held For Three Years”
In a deeply emotional moment that resonated with the town hall audience, the Borno-born technocrat revealed that his hardline stance on national security is informed by firsthand family trauma.
Reflecting on the prolonged insurgency that has devastated the North-East geopolitical zone, Hayatu-Deen disclosed that the pain of abduction is not an abstract concept to him.
”I grew up in Borno State. My family has experienced the painful realities of insecurity. My sister was kidnapped and held for three years,” he shared. “I understand what insecurity does to a family, to a community, and to the confidence of an entire nation.”
He argued that no meaningful fiscal expansion or foreign direct investment can take root in a country where basic internal security cannot be guaranteed, describing the current situation as a direct indictment of failed leadership.
Economic Re-Engineering as a Counter-Terror Weapon
The ADC frontrunner maintained that kinetic military operations alone cannot permanently suppress violent extremism. He stressed that deep-seated socio-economic vulnerabilities—principally youth unemployment, systemic poverty, and a lack of social mobility—serve as primary recruitment pipelines for criminal syndicates.
To address this, Hayatu-Deen unveiled a cornerstone of his economic agenda: a comprehensive National Jobs Programme tailored to provide public works opportunities in vulnerable, frontline communities.
”Jobs also help reduce the supply of recruits available to criminal gangs, terrorists, and violent networks,” he stated, adding that his administration would introduce aggressive tax and operational incentives for private enterprises that demonstrably expand their local workforce.
Positioning the ADC for 2027
As political machinations for the next general election begin to gather momentum, Hayatu-Deen urged the ADC to present itself to the electorate not merely as another political party, but as a disciplined, technocratic alternative to the status quo.
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Insisting that Nigerians are exhausted by empty political slogans, he noted that the era of governance by excuse is over. Representatives at the town hall widely endorsed his policy roadmap, praising his pragmatic blend of institutional security reform, structural economic re-engineering, and accountable governance.
