In a scathing and emotionally charged address that drew standing ovations, human rights advocate Gloria Mabeiam Michael Ballason declared that Nigeria has reached “a time for justice and return,” warning that the nation’s spiralling insecurity has pushed it to the edge of an existential cliff.
Speaking at the 10th House of Justice Summit & Orange Ball Banquet in Kaduna, Ballason accused the Nigerian government of prioritising “terrorists over victims,” insisting that national healing and stability are impossible without justice, reparations, and the safe return of displaced communities.
The event was chaired by former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, represented by former Lagos Attorney-General Ade Ipaye, and attended by senior jurists, military leaders, lawmakers, and civil society figures.
A nation bleeding: 300,000 dead, millions displaced
Ballason grounded her remarks in stark data. Since 2009, she said, Nigeria has endured “blistering asymmetrical insecurity,” with more than 300,000 deaths—many caused not just by violence but by displacement, hunger, and lack of healthcare.
“Hundreds of communities have been wiped out,” she said. “Some have been renamed by insurgents who now occupy them with impunity.”
Across Plateau, Benue, Kaduna, Zamfara, Niger, and even Kwara—once regarded as relatively safe—entire populations have been uprooted.
UNICEF estimates 18.3 million Nigerian children are now out of school, a figure Ballason described as “a generational catastrophe.”
Ballason slams government’s ‘curious’ priorities
Taking aim at federal policies that rehabilitate former Boko Haram insurgents under initiatives such as Operation Safe Corridor and the DDRR programme, Ballason warned that these non-kinetic efforts have failed to reduce violence.
“The evidence does not support the optimism,” she said. “Government has a program for insurgents—but none for the victims they destroyed.”
She noted that trial rates for terrorism suspects remain “abysmally low,” destroyed communities are left in ruins, and recent school abductions—25 girls in Kebbi, 315 pupils and teachers in Niger—signal a worsening security collapse.
“When government uses taxpayers’ money to invest in terrorists, the message received is that terrorism is state-sponsored and lucrative,” she argued. “This risks victims taking justice into their own hands.”
‘This is not a death Olympics’
Ballason warned against politicising or ethnically reframing Nigeria’s mass violence, particularly debates around genocide in the Middle Belt.
“These enemies of state kill under different schemes but in pursuit of one end—extermination,” she said. “We cannot reduce human lives to a competition of casualties. This is not a death Olympics. This is an existential crisis.”
Her remarks drew solemn nods from a hall that included former Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Christopher Musa (rtd.), Senator Sunday Marshall Katung, and the Elders Forum chairman, Gen. Zamani Lekwot.
A call for national healing and return
Ballason urged a bold new agenda anchored on four pillars:
- Justice for victims
- Reparations and psychosocial healing
- Resettlement of displaced communities
- A coherent national framework for security and accountability
“Victims—not perpetrators—are those in need of non-kinetic interventions,” she said. “They must vacate IDP camps and return safely to their ancestral communities.”
She described Nigeria’s violent trajectory as “self-inflicted destruction,” warning that neither insurgents nor their sponsors gain anything tangible from the carnage.
“As they kill and dehumanise, the celestial voice still echoes: ‘Why, O Cain, do you slay your brother?’”
Unity as a last line of defence
Ballason urged Nigerians to stop fighting each other and confront the real threat.
“We have lost too much. We cannot afford to lose ourselves, for we are all we have,” she said, to sustained applause.
She thanked Prof. Osinbajo for what she called his “uplifting and assuring engagement,” praising his willingness to spend over two hours brainstorming solutions for Nigeria and Africa’s “safe return to greatness.”
She also saluted keynote speaker Prof. Dakas C.J. Dakas, SAN, Chairman of the Nigerian Law Reform Commission, calling him “remarkable, brilliant, and unflinchingly dedicated to justice.”
Ballason concluded by calling the hall to its feet for a minute of silence in honour of Nigerians killed in the conflict.
