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… suggests steps that can be taken
The pan-Yoruba socio-cultural and socio-political organization, Afenifere, has called on governments in the South West to take the security of their area more seriously in view of the latest revelation concerning the new influx of bandits into the region.
The body made the call in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Comrade Jare Ajayi following the disclosure by the Oyo State Governor, Engineer Oluwaseyi Makinde, FNSE, that bandits being dislodged in the northern part of Nigeria are camping in parts of Oyo State.
It would be recalled that Governor Makinde, while speaking at the 2025 annual inter-faith service for workers held at the Secretariat, Agodi, Ibadan, on Monday, January 6, disclosed that bandits being dislodged from the North-West of Nigeria are infiltrating his state. In his words:
“During a security briefing this morning, I learned that some bad elements from the North-West are relocating here due to military heat in their zones.”
To underscore the seriousness of the issue, the governor related his own personal experience when he observed his quiet birthday ceremony at Fashola near Oyo Alaafin towards the end of last month:
“During my birthday retreat in Fashola, bandits had camped less than two kilometres from where I was staying. This underscores the seriousness of the situation.”
According to Afenifere, a disclosure of this nature coming from the Chief Security Officer of a state is not something to be treated with levity.
It therefore called on all the governors of the South Western States to, “as a matter of urgency, hold a meeting to map out strategies to expel the bandits from the region and to ensure that such elements do not infiltrate Yorubaland at any time again”.
“For these objectives to be achieved, there is the need to carry certain groups along. These are the security agencies that will implement whatever security decisions reached, traditional rulers and heads of local vigilantes known as ‘Ode’.
Ajayi added that whatever strategies that were devised should include functional up-to-date equipment for those who would be on the fields, attractive incentives and the deployment of modern technologies to assist in identifying the bandits and their hideouts.
While urging security agencies and citizens not to take the issue of security lightly, Ajayi concluded by saying that traditional rulers and community leaders in different parts of Yorubaland should not keep quiet whenever they notice any indication suggestive of security threat.
“For example, until the governor made the revelation on Monday, such grave security danger was unknown to members of the public, yet there are people living in Fashola area where the bandits were reported to have established a camp. It is not unlikely that similar camps could be found in some other parts of the South West, hence the need for urgent and effective action”.
