Kwara attacks barbaric — Gani Adams

The Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yoruba land, Iba Gani Adams, has described as barbaric the recent armed attacks in Babanla town in Kwara, calling on government and security agencies in the country to urgently intervene and bring the situation under control.

The attack, which led to the death of some security personnel, leaves citizens scampering for safety in their thousands.

The Yoruba generalissimo decried the situation in a statement, a copy of which was made available to newsmen on Tuesday, just as he also called for heightened security consciousness across the Southwest region to forestall the situation from degenerating into large-scale widespread attacks.

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Iba Adams said the incident underscored the critical importance of vigilance, community cooperation, and proactive measures to safeguard lives and property across the region, further calling on state governments and security agencies, including paramilitary groups and security stakeholders, to urgently put up measures to avert recurrence of similar incidents in Southwest states.

The Yoruba generalissimo, while making the call, stressed that there had been, in recent times, intelligence reports indicating that the region could experience attacks from marauders and bandits who were lurking in its forests and border towns were trending.

He noted that the Kwara attacks, and such other attacks happening in other parts of the region, were confirmation of the imminent massive attacks that could be launched on the region.

The Aare Ona Kakanfo said that though the Nigeria Police was mandated to maintain public safety and order, however, stressed that security was a shared responsibility that required active participation from all leaders, stakeholders, and residents.

Iba Adams, therefore, called for community vigilance, state and local government policing, public awareness and education, as well as collaboration of all security agencies and stakeholders as a lasting solution to the attacks.

“I urge residents to remain alert and promptly report suspicious activities or persons to the nearest police station or policing officers. This collaboration enhances early detection and prevention of crimes.

“I also restate the call for state and local government policing initiatives. If allowed, this will play a big role in crime detection, and maintaining law and order within neighborhoods,” he said.