Afenifere laments incessant kidnappings on Lagos-Ibadan expressway

Pan- Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, on Wednesday decried the level into which insecurity in Nigeria has fallen, noting sadly that the kidnapping of seven people around Isara Remo on Lagos/Ibadan Expressway on Sunday, January 17, 2022, was another evidence that governments in the country had failed in their primary duties of providing security and welfare for the people.

Some people were reportedly kidnapped last Sunday, at Onigaari Village on Lagos/Ibadan Expressway just as some travellers, including a popular actress, narrowly escaped being kidnapped on the same road last Saturday.

Reports also had it that some displaced terrorists in the northern part of the country led by one Belo Turji were making incursions into Yorubaland.

Afenifere expressed this concern in a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Comrade Jare Ajayi, even as it recalled the incessant kidnapping of and attacks on innocent people in Ondo, Ogun, Osun and Ekiti states, among others, declaring that such u acceptable attacks must be stopped forthwith by all means.

“We recall the incessant kidnapping of and attacks on innocent people in Ondo, Ogun, Osun and Ekiti states. We also recall the sacking of certain villages in the Imeko area of Ogun State last week.

“These are unacceptable and must be stopped forthwith by all means,” the pan- Yoruba group said.

Afenifere, while condemning the act, posited that lamentations by governors of Niger, Zamfara, Benue, Nassarawa, Borno, Kaduna, Sokoto and Katsina states on how terrorists seemed to be dictating the pace in their areas ought to serve as a wake-up call for the governments and the security agencies.

This was just as it noted that President Muhammadu Buhari was aware of the security situation going by his recent expressions on the issue.

“For instance, the president ordered for a ‘robust’ military intervention in the wake of terrorists’ take-over of some local government areas in Niger State, just as he asked Nigerians to put their prayers for security before God.

“The latter he said in a message delivered on his behalf when Governor Ganduje of Kano State hosted the head of Tijanniyah organisation worldwide in Kano last week,” Afenifere said.

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The group expressed worries that notwithstanding several ‘orders’ given by Mr President in the recent past and with ceaseless prayers from Nigerians, it appeared the more orders were given and prayers were said, “the worse our security situation becomes.”

“This clearly shows that the appropriate panacea is not being applied to the scourge. And until this is done, the situation may be getting worse each passing day,” the group said.

Afenifere further lamented the government’s approach to the issue of security, saying it does not indicate that it was in grasps of the enormity of the problem “hence it’s treating the insecurity situation as though it were a circus.”

“As part of the immediate solutions to the problem, the doctrine of necessity be invoked so that the aspect of the Constitution that makes the handling of security in the country almost exclusive to the Federal Government would be relaxed.

“This is the time that states and local government councils must be legally allowed to have their own security agencies. Such states and local government security agencies must be fully equipped and be allowed to have the powers to investigate and prosecute accordingly.

“Also, States’ laws on security, including Anti-open Grazing Laws, must be allowed to be effectively enforced,” it said.

Finally, Ajayi, the Afenifere spokesman, said that no matter the stride President Buhari made on the Nigeria project, the worsening security and economic conditions in the country would rubbish his efforts and ultimate achievements.

“It is, therefore, incumbent on the president to allow State Police, strengthen the military with equipment and right motivation, prevail on the Attorney- General of the Federation to allow rule of law to operate without fear or favour, stop nepotistic justice, enable the military to mop-up too many weapons in the hands of unauthorised persons and promptly convene a meeting of ethnic nationalities and interest groups.

“Such a meeting should be to return the country to a true Federation with perhaps a parliamentary system of government,” Ajayi said.

He asserted that in the above suggestions lie the solutions to the security and economic problems Nigeria was facing presently.