Heightened Insecurity ‘Casts A Dark Shadow’ On 2026 Democracy Day Celebration – Afenifere

… Calls for concerted actions from federal and state govts… Bemoans failure of Northern govts/elites to rein-in bandits creating problems for all

The disclosure by Oyo State Governor Oluwaseyi Makinde that abductors of school children and their teachers in Oriire local government of the state are hiding in a forest covering 10 local government areas has deepened concern for the state of insecurity in the heartland of Yorubaland in Nigeria.

The situation calls for a more focused and more concerted action from the authorities concerned, according to the Yoruba socio-political organization, Afenifere, in a press statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Comrade Jare Ajayi.

According to Afenifere spokesman, the abductions of school children in Oyo and Borno States over a month ago put a serious slur on what would have been a joyous celebration of the 27th uninterrupted civil rule in Nigeria.

“Besides the unfortunate abductions of school children that took place on May 15, 2026 and other abductions that had occurred in different parts of Nigeria since then, the monarch of Odo-Oriya, Oba Adeniyi Adelana in Owo local government area of Ondo State was, on Sunday night, abducted right in his palace while his wife was shot at. In a similar gory situation, bandits also struck in Igbeti-Igboho-Kisi area of Oyo State over the weekend killing at least two people. The area in question had been considered as an impregnable fortress for bandits as the local people, working in concert, have repeatedly warded off the attempts by bandits to overrun their communities. Only on Tuesday night, a family was attacked in its home at Igbope, Oorelope local government area of Oyo State. The family’s head, Mr. Ismail Aderoju popularly known as Al-Iklas, escaped being abducted but with a gunshot. Unfortunately, his wife, Kuburah, his two year-old child and three of his workers were abducted.” Ajayi stated, adding that the rate at which royal fathers are being abducted or killed in Yorubaland is very embarrassing as much as it is disturbing.

“It is embarrassing because our Obas who used to be the symbol of authority and power are being so plucked like lame ducks. Disturbing because the message such is sending seems to be a mockery of our very existence – it is as though the bandits are saying that ‘if we can so easily remove your leaders, what difficulty would we have to grab anyone of you that we set our hands upon?”

Ajayi who submitted that since January 2024 when bandits ambushed the convoy of three monarchs returning from a security meeting and killed two of them, Oba Olatunde Samuel Olushola (Onimojo of Imojo-Ekiti) and Oba David Babatunde Ogunsakin (Elesun of Esun-Ekiti) and the invasion of Olukoro of Koro palace where they killed Oba Segun Aremu the following month, one has almost lost count of traditional rulers who have either being killed or were abducted by bandits. So serious is the situation that over 30 rulers in Kwara state have abandoned their palaces.

The humiliation is not confined to traditional rulers. Top army brass have fallen victims. Among such were the former army spokesman, retired General Rabe Abubakar who was abducted along with his wife. The General died in his captors’ den while his wife was shot at when soldiers bombarded the bandits to rescue her after the burial of her husband.

The General’s death in terrorists’ den is a sad commentary of our security situation as was the audacity of bandits to even operate in broad daylight in cities as exemplified by the abduction of Mrs Olaide John-Paul and her twin sons in Ibadan penultimate week. The lady is a younger sister of the immediate past Minister of Power in Nigeria, Chief Adebayo Adegoke.

Reiterating the latest submission of the former Chief of Army Staff, General Buratai (rtd), Afenifere spokesman warned that everything must be done to stop bandits from taking over Nigeria.

Buratai had said that going by the latest derring-do of terrorists, they may get to the level of abducting governors and legislators.

“When the situation degenerated to that level, what remains for the country? It would mean that bandits are taking over, God forbid. But for God to forbid, we, through our governments and security agencies, must re-strategize and be firmer in our approach to the issue.”

He recalled the reason given by the National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, for how and why bandits are targeting youths for recruitment into their folds and challenged the security boss to go to the root of the matter.

He recalled his earlier disclosure that insecurity in the north is a ‘complex web’ dating back to the amalgamation of the northern and southern protectorates. At a lecture he delivered during the 2024 Convocation of Usman Dan Fodio University, he stated that the amalgamation of the Northern Protectorate with the South by the British in 1914 was partly motivated by the desire to curb ‘armed banditry and enhance regional security.’ The NSA added that that the crisis is driven by a deep-rooted blend of socio-economic, ethnic and religious factors”. Meaning that what has bloated into a monster now has a historical roots especially in the north as revealed by the NSA.

Arguing that insecurity is festering because the governments and others who should be concerned are not doing what they are supposed to do, Ajayi cited the narrative by the Katsina State government on the cause of General Rabe Abubakar’s death to buttress his point.

Picking holes in the reason given by the state’s government on the cause of General Abubakar’s death, Ajayi said that powerful people particularly in the North “are shying away from confronting the ogre of insecurity for reasons best known to them even when this monster is consuming hundreds if not thousands of their citizens. By ascribing the cause of the General’s death to nature, Katsina government is giving the bandits an alibi to continue to perpetrate their evil acts”.

Maintaining that failure of northern governments and leaders to rein in bandits in their midst is creating problems for people in the south including Yorubaland, Ajayi stated that the antics of the leaders in the north “is making efforts at tackling insecurity in the South a herculean task”.

According to Afenifere, the terror acts occurring in the Southwest are being perpetrated by bandits from the northern part of the country as attested to even by security chiefs.

“For banditry and related insecurity acts to be stopped in Nigeria, there is the urgent need to take prompt steps against the perpetrators of these heinous crimes and their sponsors wherever they are”.

He concluded by calling on the Southwest governors to come together to secure the region while putting pressures on the federal government to be more decisive in tackling insecurity problem in the country.