Armed School Security Also Part of Clarion Chukwurah’s Appeal to Tinubu
Veteran Nollywood actress Clarion Chukwurah has appealed directly to President Bola Tinubu to adopt urgent interim security measures to address Nigeria’s worsening insecurity while the country’s proposed state police structure is still being built out.
In an open letter shared on her Instagram page on Wednesday, Clarion Chukwurah opened on a note of commendation, praising the President for his role in facilitating the creation of state police and describing the move as a step in the right direction for the country’s security architecture. “I applaud the fact that you once became a fugitive on behalf of democracy in Nigeria and your recent move to facilitate the creation of state police to combat insecurity in our country,” she wrote.
Her praise, however, came paired with a pointed warning about timelines. Clarion Chukwurah noted that establishing and fully deploying state police across the country — particularly extending operations into Nigeria’s rural communities — could realistically take between one and two years, a timeline she argued was simply too slow given the scale of insecurity already unfolding on the ground. “Sir, we know the process that will lead to its actual full-scale operations in every state will take at least one to two years, especially in extending its operations into the villages in the rural states where the activities of kidnappers are overwhelming and require immediate urgent solution,” she wrote.
The actress framed insecurity and poverty as twin obstacles standing in the way of national development, arguing that the government’s efforts to address both were being actively undermined by political pressure, corruption and mass unemployment. “Sadly, your government is facing internal political pressure, external political interference and its own corrupt, dispassionate and shadow-boxing ideas on the issue of combating widespread poverty due to mass unemployment, which is mostly responsible for growing crime in Nigeria,” she said.
She went further, suggesting that many Nigerians living in poverty struggle to appreciate the structural challenges confronting the administration, often perceiving government itself as adversarial rather than as an entity working, however imperfectly, on their behalf. “Sir, the average Nigerian living in poverty does not believe that you are not the enemy, or understand that there are challenges your government has to face. This is why I have chosen to make this plea because there cannot be any meaningful progress in the current state of Nigeria crippled by insecurity and poverty from the present economic crisis, no matter how well-meaning your intentions are,” she added.
At the centre of Clarion’s appeal was a concrete policy proposal: directing a portion of the National Security Emergency Intervention Fund toward strengthening community self-defence through armed vigilante groups, as a stopgap measure while state police infrastructure is still being assembled. “Mr President, please direct the use of a part of the billions of the National Security Emergency Intervention Fund to support community self-defence through vigilantes who are given the capacity to bear arms and protect their communities,” she advised.
Clarion Chukwurah reserved some of her strongest language for the specific issue of child abductions, condemning kidnappers in blunt terms and describing the conditions under which abducted children are often held. “We know that only cowards kidnap children for money, and keep a two-year-old child in captivity in the forest to endure rainfall, poor nutrition, heat and mosquitoes,” she said.
She also raised concerns about the ecosystem that allows kidnapping to persist, alleging that the practice has flourished in part because those involved — including some individuals within the police itself — understand that victims are largely defenceless. “Kidnapping has thrived in Nigeria because the kidnappers, neighbourhood informants and complicit police officers know that the victims are powerless and helpless,” she said.
Beyond community-level vigilante support, Clarion Chukwurah also called for government backing to help schools employ armed security personnel, arguing that pupils, teachers and other staff members needed a stronger line of defence against attacks targeting educational institutions specifically.
Clarion closed her letter by tying both proposals — vigilante support and armed school security — directly to how the President’s leadership would ultimately be perceived by ordinary Nigerians. “Mr President, by enabling this immediate line of defence for every community before state police become fully operational, especially the massive population of unemployed poor, and assistance to schools to employ armed security men to defend the lives of children and teachers, you will replace the face of indifference on your leadership with that of compassion,” she concluded.
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