“State Police Should Take Off” – Afenifere Alerts Southwest Govs Over Terrorists Incursion into Yorubaland

Afenifere has called for the immediate take-off of state police, warning that persistent terrorist attacks in states bordering the South-West are heightening fears of a full-scale incursion into Yorubaland.

In a statement issued by Jare Ajayi, its national publicity secretary, the pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation expressed grave concern over repeated attacks in Kwara, Kogi and Niger states, as well as recent kidnappings in Ondo, Ekiti and Oyo states.

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.

The group added that in the same week, bandits launched further attacks in neighbouring Kogi and Edo states, and in Niger, Benue, Plateau, Kaduna and Katsina states.

“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 statement read.

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

Ajayi urged 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 and the creation of monitoring centres to track potential terrorist activity, adding that the Ogun state government had recently inaugurated closed-circuit television (CCTV) monitoring centres in furtherance of the objective.

Maintaining that the persistence of banditry and terrorism cannot be blamed on lack of intelligence, Ajayi said available security information was not being effectively utilised.

“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,” he said.