The recent murder of two monarchs in Ekiti State by suspected bandits has further underscored the worsening state of insecurity in the country. According to reports, the two monarchs, the Onimojo of Imojo, Oba Olatunde Olusola, and the Elesun of Esun Ekiti, Oba Babatunde Ogunsakin, died following an attack by bandits on their vehicle between Oke-Ako and Ipao Ekiti, in Ajoni Local Council Development Area of the state. However, the third monarch in the vehicle, the Alara of Ara Ekiti, Oba Adebayo Fatoba, escaped.
Similarly, five school children, three teachers and a bus driver were kidnapped in Emure Ekiti. The gunmen were said to have ambushed the school bus carrying the pupils home at about 5 p.m. Later, the kidnappers demanded N100million ransom for the release of their victims. The abducted pupils and teachers were later released but the driver was killed and burnt by the assailants.
Also, gunmen reportedly invaded the palace of Olukoro of Koro in Ekiti Local Government Area of Kwara State and killed the traditional ruler of the community, General Segun Aremu (rtd). The attackers whisked away the victim’s wife and two others, who were later set free.
In Imo, the former chairman of the state’s traditional rulers’ council, Eze Samuel Ohiri of Orodo community in Mbaitolu Local Government area was released from captivity by his abductors after being held for over two weeks. Within the same period, terrorists in Kaduna killed at least 17 people and kidnapped 58 others in three communities in Kauru Local Government Area. In Anambra, two brothers were killed and dumped in the booth of their car around Awkuzu area.
In Abuja, a gang of bandits struck in Bwari Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), took away seven members of a family and murdered a policeman. One of the victims was killed while others were released after ransom had been paid to their captors.
In virtually all parts of the country, insecurity has been on the rise. A coalition of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) under the auspices of the Civil Society Joint Action Group (CSJAG) reported that at least 2,423 people had been killed, while 1,872 were abducted within eight months of the President Bola Tinubu’s administration. According to the group, 230 of such gruesome incidents occurred within the first two weeks of January 2024.
The Executive Director of the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, who made the disclosure, frowned at the deteriorating state of security across Nigeria and the Federal Capital Territory, and called on the government to take steps to end the endemic insecurity, mitigate further attacks by kidnap syndicates and terrorist groups, and account for persons missing in these attacks.
The rising insecurity in the country is scary and condemnable. The government and the security agencies should halt the dangerous trend. The president should declare a state of emergency on insecurity. Let the security agencies be adequately mobilised to move against the criminals and sponsors of insecurity.
The situation at hand calls for enhanced intelligence sharing among the security agencies. Those found complicit in the menace should be sanctioned accordingly. During the campaigns, Tinubu promised, among others, to tackle insecurity. He should fulfill that promise. Nigerians expect no less from him. It behooves on the government to ensure that citizens go about their lawful activities without harassment from criminal elements.
The government should stop politicising state and community policing. The current centralized policing is seemingly responsible for rising insecurity across the country. The time has really come to have at least four layers of policing, federal, state, council and community. The people in an area should be involved in the policing of their terrain. We say this bearing in mind that every crime is local. At the same time, the security agencies should rise up to the occasion and rein in the terrorists and other criminals.
The general insecurity is affecting economic activities in the country as some multinational firms have relocated to other countries. This can equally discourage foreign investors. The agricultural sector is seriously affected, as farmers could no longer go to farms for fear of being killed by terrorists. This has led to high cost of food items and the recent protests in some parts of the country by angry Nigerians.