Injustice and Abuse of Office Are Driving Insecurity, Army Cleric Says in Ibadan

Lieutenant Colonel Adeleke Lawal, Acting Deputy Director of Islamic Affairs at the Nigerian Army’s 2 Division in Ibadan, said injustice, oppression, discrimination and abuse of power by public officials are key drivers of insecurity across Nigeria.

Lawal spoke on Sunday in Ibadan as guest speaker at the annual Ramadan lecture organised by the Muslim Lawyers’ Association of Nigeria, Oyo State chapter. The event also featured Professor Taofeek Yekeen of the Department of Agricultural Extension and Rural Development, University of Ibadan, and Rasheed Adelakun, Director of the Department of State Services in Oyo State, as discussants.

Presenting a paper titled “Security and economy: Islamic model for accountable leadership,” Lawal said security and economic life are closely linked, and warned that both weaken when leadership is not accountable.

He said peace and stability cannot endure where oppression, discrimination and abuse of office are allowed to flourish. According to him, many Nigerians remain in poverty despite the country’s resources because fairness is not consistently applied in public institutions and access to opportunity is uneven.

Lawal said concentration of economic power in the hands of a small group can erode social trust and deepen insecurity. He called on governments at federal, state and local levels to pursue fairer resource distribution, arguing that this would lower social tension and reduce crime-linked pressures in communities.

“Security and economy are not peripheral issues. They are foundation pillars of civilization,” Lawal said. He added that when security breaks down, business activity suffers, and when economic injustice spreads, insecurity rises.

He said ethical and responsible leadership strengthens both stability and prosperity, while corruption and abuse in office weaken institutions. “Moral corruption leads to instability,” he said, warning that bribery, exploitation and dishonesty can damage public confidence and trigger wider disorder.

Lawal said citizens are more likely to support law and order when they believe institutions are fair and rights are protected. But where people feel shut out economically or treated unequally before the law, he said resentment can build and later appear in crime, social unrest or open conflict.

Other speakers at the lecture also stressed the need to address structural imbalances. Yekeen and Adelakun urged governments at different levels to confront inequality and governance gaps that create pressure points in society.

A contributor identified as Alli told participants that voters should demand accountability from elected representatives and make use of legal reforms in the electoral process. He said citizens should ask questions and stay engaged, adding that recent electoral changes can help reduce manipulation if properly enforced.

The lecture’s central message was that security policy cannot be separated from governance standards and economic justice. Speakers argued that long-term peace requires credible institutions, transparent leadership and equal treatment under the law.

Lawal said the issue should not be framed only as a military challenge, because many insecurity triggers begin in governance failures and social exclusion. He said durable stability will depend on leaders who combine authority with fairness, and on systems that protect rights while ensuring that public resources are managed for the wider population rather than a narrow elite.