By Francis Ajuonuma
Pan-Yoruba socio-cultural and socio-political organization Afenifere has charged governments in the south-west to strengthen regional security.
The group made the charge in a statement issued on Thursday by its National Publicity Secretary, Comrade Jare Ajayi,
This is coming days after Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde raised the alarm that bandits dislodged in the northern part of Nigeria are camping in parts of Oyo State.
“During a security briefing this morning, I learned that some bad elements from the Northwest are relocating here due to military heat in their zones,” Makinde had said at the 2025 annual inter-faith service for workers held on Monday at the Secretariat, Agodi, Ibadan.
Reacting, Afenifere noted that the disclosure, coming from the Chief Security Officer of a state, is not something to be treated with levity.
The organization, therefore, called on all the governors of the South West to ” hold a meeting as a matter of urgency to map out strategies to expel the bandits from the region and to ensure that such elements do not infiltrate Yorubaland at any time again”.
“Certain groups need to be carried along for these objectives to be achieved. These are the security agencies that will implement whatever security decisions are reached, traditional rulers and heads of local vigilantes known as ‘Ode’”, the statement said.
Afenifere also called for functional, up-to-date equipment, attractive incentives, and the deployment of modern technologies to assist in identifying the bandits and their hideouts by those in the fields.
While urging security agencies and citizens not to take the issue of security lightly, the group concluded by saying that traditional rulers and community leaders in different parts of Yorubaland should not keep quiet whenever they notice any indication of security threat.
“For example, until the governor made the revelation on Monday, such grave security danger was unknown to members of the public, yet people live in the Fashola area where the bandits were reported to have established a camp.
“It is not unlikely that similar camps could be found in some other parts of the South-west, hence the need for urgent and effective action,” the statement added.
