Benisheikh attack: Situating security agencies’ intel response
Full Description
By LOUIS ACHI At the risk of sounding jaded, intelligence, intel, typically refers to secret, security, or strategic data gathered about an enemy or a situation. It often implies actionable knowledge used for decision-making in security, business, or competitive contexts. This is the focus of this analysis. In the aftermath of the recent attack by terrorists on the Nigerian Army Brigade Headquarters in Benisheikh, Borno State, Governor Babagana Zulum made a startling but sad revelation that the Nigerian Army received intelligence two days before the attack. According to the governor, the intelligence included movement and routes used by the terrorists, and that insurgents were headed towards the military barracks. The governor expressed regret that the Army failed to act. While Governor Zulum didn’t disclose which of the security agencies supplied the intelligence to the Army, it isn’t difficult to hazard a guess if what Zulum’s colleague in Kebbi State, Alhaji Nasir Idris, said last November is anything to go by. In mid-November 2025, gunmen attacked Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School, Maga, in Danko/Wasagu Local Government Area of Kebbi State. The gunmen abducted at least 25 female students of the school. Shortly after the attack, Governor Idris visited the school. During the visit he expressed frustration over the failure to act on credible intelligence provided by the Department of State Services, DSS, which revealed a clandestine plot to attack the school. Lamented the governor: “This is clear sabotage. We received credible intelligence from the DSS that this school was likely to be attacked. The DSS further advised that we convene an emergency Security Council meeting, which we did. The decision was that we would provide round-the-clock protection for the students.” He stated that he took the DSS report seriously, bearing in mind that the failure to act on similar intelligence led to the December 2020 kidnapping of over 300 pupils of a school in Kankara, Katsina State. On November 21, 2025, gunmen attacked St. Mary’s Catholic School in Papiri Community, Agwara Local Government Area of Niger State, abducting over 300 students and teachers. After a month-long captivity, all kidnapped persons were confirmed free on December 21, 2025. The abduction and rescue of the Papiri victims wasn’t without controversy, especially after it was confirmed that the school authorities defied an intelligence report by the DSS that all boarding schools shut down in the face of the possibility that they could be attacked by terrorists. A month earlier, the Kogi State governor, Alhaji Usman Ododo, lauded the DSS for what he called their timely and accurate intelligence reports. The governor spoke on the heels of a leaked DSS intelligence report that the state and neighbouring Ondo were likely to come under attack. Governor Ododo’s Commissioner of Information and Communications, Kingsley Fanwo, who convey...