Afenifere raises alarm over escalating terror in border states, urges S’West govs to act decisively

By Adeola Badru

Pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, has expressed grave concern over persistent terrorist attacks in states bordering the South-West, warning that the development is heightening fears of a full-scale incursion into Yorubaland.

In a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Jare Ajayi, the organisation said repeated attacks in Kwara, Kogi and Niger states, alongside recent kidnappings in Ondo, Ekiti and Oyo states, presented a deeply troubling security trajectory.

Afenifere recalled that heavily armed bandits who invaded Woro and Nuku communities in Kaiama Local Government Area of Kwara State penultimate week reportedly killed nearly 200 people and abducted several others.

In the same week, the organisation recalled that bandits launched further attacks in neighbouring Kogi and Edo states and in Niger, Benue, Plateau, Kaduna and Katsina states.

Afenifere stated: “This is a very disturbing development as cases of abduction seem to be on the increase in Yorubaland. Incidents that occurred in places like Ondo, Ibadan, Kaduna etc., took place in the metropolis. Meaning that terror acts are no longer confined to rustic settings where government presence is thin, if at all.”

The organisation noted that the abduction of the schoolgirl in Ibadan occurred in broad daylight, as her mother was dropping her off at school in the Challenge area, situated at the upper end of Ring Road on the Lagos-bound axis of the city.

Ajayi, however, called on the governors of Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Ekiti, Ondo and Lagos states, as well as their counterparts in Kwara, Kogi, Edo and Delta states, to urgently put in place robust security arrangements that would enable residents to “sleep with their two eyes closed.”

He recalled that the six South-West governors, at their meeting in Ibadan on November 24, 2025, resolved to strengthen regional security.

Among the measures proposed were the establishment of a South-West Security Fund, SWSF, and the creation of monitoring centres to track potential terrorist activity. Ajayi also noted that the Ogun State government recently inaugurated closed-circuit television (CCTV) monitoring centres in furtherance of this objective.

The Afenifere spokesman maintained that the persistence of banditry and terrorism cannot be attributed to a lack of intelligence.

“It is however not debatable that banditry and terrorism are continuing not because there is no information on or about bandits and terrorists. Terrorism is becoming pervasive because even the information available is not being processed and used in the interest of the people. Rather, it, in many cases, even serves the interest of those who are clearly ‘the enemies of the people!”

Citing specific instances, Ajayi referred to the testimony of the head of Woro village in Kaiama, Kwara State, Alhaji Umar Bio Salihu, who reportedly disclosed that a letter warning of impending attack had been written and forwarded to higher authorities before his village was attacked, yet the assault still occurred.

Ajayi said: “The problem therefore is not lack of information, but the will to use the information in the interest of the people. State police should take off immediately while communities should also be enabled to have local security arrangements. It is high time governors in Yorubaland went beyond sermonisation and swing into decisive actions that will really make the region a very secure place.”

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