THERE is fire on the mountain in the South West that if not quickly extinguished, may consume the entire country. Insecurity, banditry and kidnapping that started in the north two decades ago have now become cancer that has metastasized, spreading to the South West region of Nigeria. President Bola Tinubu is aware of the problem, but either due to political consideration or the need not to offend some powerful interests in the country, is not willing to tackle the problem headlong.
For more than six weeks now, school children and their teachers that were abducted by terrorists remain in captivity. They were kidnapped from their classrooms in three schools, all within Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State. One of the kidnapped teachers has been gruesomely murdered by these mindless terrorists to show that they mean business. Our President and Commander-in-Chief has not found a way of rescuing the victims despite the fact that he has the Army, Navy, Airforce, and thousands of other security agencies at his command. Tinubu is now seeking outside help in their rescue. Myself and other helpless Nigerians can only wish him luck.
The people of the South-west region of Nigeria are peace-loving. We work hard and try to enjoy the fruits of our hard work. We are accommodating and love to treat others with love and respect. But that peace-loving nature of the average South west indigene is now being seen as docility. Our land has been encircled by terrorists from other regions. Some say that those troubling us are cross-border bandits. Others are saying that they are Fulani Jihadists from across the borders. But if the Fulani at home does not show the Fulani in the bush our strengths and weaknesses, it would be difficult for them to come after us.
The dire situation has made Yoruba sons and daughters to come together in a bid to defend their ancestral land. Sunday Adeyemo, better known as Sunday Igboho, has formed a regional security outfit to be known as Iru Ekun (Leopard’s tail). He says that he has recruited 50,000 strong men to protect the bushes in all the six states of the South west including parts of Kwara and Kogi States. Members of Iru Ekun are to flush out any criminal elements using the forests as hide-outs for their nefarious activities.
According to the activist: “Yoruba land was peaceful. Our people did not need to carry guns around. Our minds were at ease before some people began playing games with former President Goodluck Jonathan during his time just to cause unrest. Since then, there has been issues.”
President Jonathan left the scene in 2015, and the late President Muhammadu Buhari, a Fulani man, took over, and his presidency used as an in-road by Fulanis all over West Africa to infiltrate Nigeria as their home. They strolled in and out of Nigeria at will through our porous or non-existent borders. A Lagos-to-Abuja rail service that would have provided jobs and opportunities to millions of Nigerians was jettisoned for a Kano-Maradi (Niger Republic) rail service to provide easy access to Fulanis in Niger to move into Nigeria.
The Kano-Maradi railway project is a $1.96 billion, 284 km standard-gauge rail line initiated and flagged off in February 2021 by Buhari. Designed to connect Nigeria and the Niger Republic, the line spans from Kano through Jigawa and Katsina states, terminating in Maradi.
The previous administration of Goodluck Jonathan did all within its power to give education to the Fulanis, who seemed to have adopted our forests as their home. Over 100 nomadic schools were established as well as a radio station for the broadcast of educational materials for nomadic children. The programme was stopped during Buhari’s regime. How those that refused to be educated can co-habit with educated and enlightened folks in the 21st century is still a mystery to many.
The Fulanis in the forest are now abducting and kidnapping fellow human beings who are treated like commodities to be exchanged for ransom. They are tired of picking up their kith and kin in the North and are now moving to the south. Most families are forced to pay ransoms to get their loved ones released while those that can’t pay have their loved ones killed. These kidnapping-for-ransom soon metamorphosed to mass abductions, particularly of school children. The terrorists know that they would get maximum publicity for their target victims, which would force many state governors to do their biddings. As more ransoms are paid, more weapons are acquired. A thriving business is born in Nigeria.
Igboho, with his Iru Ekun as well as the Odua Peoples Congress (OPC) are going after the terrorists in the South West. Majority of those terrorists are of Fulani background. Won’t this lead to crisis and ethnic profiling in the country?
Yet, we claim to have a government. Section 14(2)(b) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, states that the security and welfare of citizens shall be the primary purpose of government, but the persistent attacks on communities and mass abductions and killings across the country raise serious concerns about the effectiveness of current security measures put in place by the government. Now, non-state actors are joining the fray.
Igboho and his private army are now in the bush to protect the homeland. Are we to assume that the Federal and State governments cannot guarantee the safety of citizens? Is our protection now being out-sourced to private individuals and groups? Igboho says that his outfit has commenced work in earnest. ‘We have started already. There is no delay. Anyone found in any of our forests is a criminal. People should live normally in houses and not inside the forest.’’
It is a known fact that a section of Fulanis are comfortable living in the bushes and forests alongside their grazing cattle. They tend to their cows and are not bothered about civilisation or city life. Fulanis in the cities are calling for the head of Igboho. They say that he has tagged all Fulanis as criminals and must be dealt with.
Not surprisingly, there are reports that some of his men have been ambushed and injured in a gun duel with bandits. We hope that it would not degenerate into an all-out war between the Yorubas and Fulanis.
Tinubu’s solution to dislodging the terrorists in the forests is by establishing Forest Guards. States having issues with bandits are usually given the approval to recruit 10,000 forest guards to protect their forests. Many of the Forest Guards are being deployed without arms and ammunition. One may ask what they are meant to confront armed terrorists with.
The cure-all pill that is now being vigorously pursued by both the Executive and the Legislature is the establishment of State Police. President Tinubu sent an Amendment Bill to the National Assembly (NASS) for the amendment of relevant sections of the 1999 constitution. Both chambers of the National Assembly worked round the clock in ensuring that they passed the new legislation. In the wisdom of our Senators, what they passed would prevent State Governors from abusing the proposed state police structure for partisan, ethnic, religious, sectional, or personal interests.
The new legislation, with the consent of more than two-thirds of State Houses of Assembly seeks to create a decentralised policing system while at the same time, preserving national cohesion, accountability, and federal oversight. The proposed amendment would empower the NASS to prescribe national minimum standards for recruitment, training, vetting, promotions, discipline, use of force, firearms, complaints procedures, accountability, data management, and professional conduct. The Bill also seeks to retain the Federal Police for national policing responsibilities whilst allowing states that choose to do so to establish their own police services.
Under the Bill, State Police services would be responsible for enforcing state laws, maintaining public safety and public order, preventing and detecting crimes within their jurisdictions, protecting lives and property, and carrying out other local policing duties. The Federal Police will continue to oversee the protection of federal institutions, counter-terrorism operations, organised crime, cybercrime, border security, arms trafficking, interstate criminal activities, and other matters relating to national security.
Whether state police would guarantee the protection of lives and property is yet to be seen. What is certain is that the measures are coming a bit too late. Most states have a quasi-police structure that could not deliver when it mattered the most. Several states in the North also have what they call the Civilian Joint Taskforce team that work hand in hand with other security agencies. Yet, bandits and terrorists are still Lords of the Manor in most cities across the country. In the South west, Governors established Amotekun to protect the region but they were not allowed to carry sophisticated weapons by the Buhari regime. Can dane guns withstand the fire power of AK 47 rifles?
Since independence in 1960, Nigeria has confronted numerous security threats, including the civil war, Maitatsine uprisings, armed militancy in the Niger Delta, sectarian violence, separatist agitations, cattle rustling, armed robbery, and the Boko Haram insurgency. Never in recent history has the country witnessed the simultaneous spread of multiple forms of insecurity across virtually every region as it is being experienced today. From the forests of Zamfara and Katsina to the highways of Kaduna and Niger; from communities in Plateau and Benue to parts of Kogi, Kwara, Borno, Oyo, Edo, Enugu, Imo and beyond, violence has become a recurring feature of daily life.
Communities are attacked, citizens are abducted, farmers are displaced from their lands, travellers are ambushed on major highways, and businesses are forced to operate under conditions of uncertainty and fear.
Independent security reports over the years have consistently documented thousands of deaths, abductions, and displacements arising from violent criminal activities. While governments may differ in their approaches and achievements, the reality confronting Nigerians today is that insecurity remains one of the gravest threats to national stability, economic growth, and social cohesion. The truth is that we cannot continue to live in fear. Something will have to give way.
Now, regional intervention has intensified, with the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) demanding a national security emergency while the Afenifere – the pan-Yoruba socio-cultural organisation is calling on South West communities to prepare for self-defence against bandits. The group has also urged traditional rulers to immediately activate community defence systems to prevent planned attacks by bandits and their local collaborators.
Afenifere has warned that criminal groups are attempting to take over territories in the South-West, and that communities must act swiftly to counter what it described as “orchestrated hegemonic territorial armed onslaughts”. Korede Duyile, Ondo State Chairman of the group, alongside Bakkita Bello, its State Secretary, maintained that its earlier warnings over the influx of unknown individuals into the region were ignored.
Several communities in the South west have been deserted after persistent attacks. There are several ungoverned spaces across the country, and several Local Government Areas (LGA) have been completely taken over in the North by terrorists. Residents that wish to stay pay allegiance to the criminals, complete with taxes to them, too. These are not good signs. They are signals of a failed state. President Tinubu should pay more attention to security issues and less to politics. It is when we have a nation that we would be talking about an election. May God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
See you next week.
- Akintunde is the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Glittersonline newspaper. His syndicated column, Monday Discourse, appears on News Point Nigeria newspaper on Monday.