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•We have capacity to rout terrorists if govs permit – Gani Adams •Afenifere, others proffer solutions to insecurity
By Oluseye Ojo
There is an uneasy calm in many parts of the South-West over the reported influx of suspected bandits and terrorists in the area. Within the past few months in Nigeria, it has been reported that bandits fleeing from military bombardments in the North West and other places, have stormed the South West, and have camped in different strategic locations.
According to reports, the bandits have also been joined by suspected terrorists from other countries and they have been settling down in different places in Yorubaland, where they have been undergoing training on how to make bombs, especially Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). The revelation came from recent happenings in the zone, which has degenerated into palpable fear among many residents of the South-West.
The government has, however, assured them of provision of adequate security. Oyo State governor, Seyi Makinde had, on Monday January 6, 2025, raised the alarm in his address during the 2025 annual inter- faith service for civil and public servants in the state.,: “Just this morning, at the security briefing, because we do have a special operation going on right now, quite a number of the bad people from the majorly North-western zone get in the heat, and they are relocating here. But we will find them out, and we’ll deal with them.
“Because of the stampede last year, I went to Fashola (Farm Settlement), just to lie low for my birthday, and I can tell you that within less than maybe one and a half kilometres of where I was sleeping, you had bandits with camp in there.
“This is no joke. It’s a serious issue, and for us in Oyo State, they will never get any foothold here, and I will not sleep until every inch of Oyo State is free of bandits and bad guys.”
The dust raised by the alarm had not settled when another issue bordering on insecurity came from Osun State on Monday January 13, this year.
Osun State Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Kolapo Alimi, confirmed the arrest of over 100 suspected terrorists who had camped in the state for alleged bomb-making training. Operatives of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) reportedly nabbed the suspects that purportedly entered the state without travelling documents from some other countries.
Alimi said: “One hundred foreigners were arrested weeks ago before the arrest of suspected members of ISWAP in Ilesa. We are on top of the security situation, and our residents should not panic.
“The governor, including our Service Chiefs, are on top of the security situation in the state. We are equally rejigging the Amotekun Security outfit to be more effective.” The South West zone had, in the recent past, especially between 2018 and 2021, been caught in the web of security issues, such as kidnapping for ransom and rituals, killings, rape, destruction of farmlands and so on. The security situation threw up the likes of a Yoruba nation activist, Chief Sunday Adeyemo, popularly known as Sunday Igboho, as well as the Amotekun Corps in five states of the South West, excluding Lagos State.
Reacting to the recent arrest of scores of suspected terrorists in Osun, Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland, Iba Gani Adams, told Saturday Sun that he’s prepared and ready to flush out terrorists in every part of South West, if the government of the six states in the region allowed him.
His words: “I am still saying it that we are ready to secure the South West, and we will resist any attempt to turn Yoruba land into the hub of bandits and kidnappers.” He insisted that the South West Security Stakeholders Group (SSSG), an initiative of his, is prepared to secure the entire South-West once the state governors give him the go-ahead.
“The SSSG, comprising the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC), Agbekoya Society, Vigilante Group of Nigeria,(VGN), Professional Hunters, Vigilante Jahun, Agbekoya Peace Movement, Agbekoya Solidarity Movement, COMSAIC, Isokan Ile Oodua, Egbe Obinrin Oodua Agbaye, Omo Oduduwa United, and a few other groups under my leadership, is ready to stamp out bandits and kidnappers in order to ensure that the South West region is safe and secured.”.
Adams noted that “Oyo State is the political capital of the South West region and anything that happens in the state, no doubt, has direct effect on the entire region.
“So, I urge all the governors in the South West to be vigilant and do the needful by addressing the security situation in their respective states before it is too late.”
Adams noted that regional autonomy, backed by state police, would strengthen the security architecture of the region.
Also speaking, National Publicity Secretary of the Yoruba organisation, Afenifere, Mr. Jare Ajayi, urged the governors of the six states in the South-West to map out strategies to expel the bandits from the region. He appealed to them put in place measures that would prevent such elements from infiltrating Yorubaland.
“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,” he said.
Afenifere also called on traditional rulers and community leaders in different parts of South West to say something whenever they notice any indication suggestive of security threat. A coalition of Yoruba groups under the aegis of Yoruba Regional Alliance Worldwide said it would embark on self-defence of Yorubaland if the constituted authorities failed the region. The coalition comprises groups such as Yoruba Regional Alliance (YRA), Yoruba Nation Religious Council (YONAREC), Agbekoya, Soludero Hunters, the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC), Muslim Association of Yoruba Nation (MAYON); Yoruba Nation Christian Association (YORNCA), and Imo Oodaiye (Isese Yorubaland).
