Kwara killings: OPC wants South-West govs to declare state of emergency on insecurity

Following the massacre of more than 170 persons in two Kwara State communities by bandits last week, the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) has called on governors of Yoruba-speaking states to immediately declare a state of emergency on insecurity in the zone.

Describing the recent mass killing in the neighbouring state to the South-West as heart-breaking and provocative, the OPC urged security operatives to summarily deal with those behind the heinous crime wherever they may be found.

The chairman of Dr Frederick Fasehun’s OPC Caretaker Committee, Alhaji Kazeem Lawal, stated in a statement that the declaration of a state of emergency on insecurity in Yoruba-speaking states has become necessary due to the escalating insecurity in the zone.

Lawal said the only way to redress the killings in the Kwara communities is to apprehend and expeditiously prosecute the perpetrators.

ALSO READ: Police arraign 50-year-old over alleged land fraud in Ibadan

“Such cold-blooded killers do not deserve a second chance. These killers should be shot on sight to give them a dose of their own medicine and serve as a deterrent to others planning to follow in their evil footsteps. These killers have committed a wicked crime against God and against humanity, and they must be made to suffer supreme punishment,” Lawal said.

He urged governors of the South-West and states with Yoruba-speaking indigenes to desist from politicising the prevailing insecurity and instead collaborate to proffer and implement rapid solutions.

“Governors of the 10 Yoruba-speaking states must immediately declare a state of emergency on security to reflect the gravity of the situation. With these rampaging terrorists, bandits, jihadists and their activities, all Nigerians face an existential threat, and all hands must be mobilised to identify, locate and neutralise these evil monsters,” Lawal said.

The organisation also urged the Federal Government, the Kwara State Government and security agencies to intensify a massive manhunt to locate and apprehend the killers.

“Those who committed this dastardly act are not spirits. All available resources must be mobilised to get these killers hunted down, arrested, prosecuted and annihilated,” Lawal said.

Expressing its readiness to defend Yoruba land and people, the OPC warned that it would not allow terrorists to fester and overwhelm the South-West as they have, unfortunately, succeeded in doing in the North.

“We shall not cede the land of our birth to Fulani herdsmen and Islamist jihadists,” Lawal said.

“We will defend ourselves and will not fold our hands while foreigners invade our lands, kidnapping, raping, pillaging and killing at will.

“Whatever criminalities bandits, jihadists and terrorists have perpetrated in the North should remain in the North because we Yoruba people will not tolerate such in our homelands.

“Nigerians wonder why the authorities continue to pamper these hoodlums. Why are the agencies not arresting anyone found roaming around with AK-47 assault rifles? Instead, the security agencies, who are supposed to defend the lives and assets of our people, choose to go after those who muster the courage to defend themselves.

“We will not seek nor wait for the permission of anyone to defend ourselves with everything at our disposal. As we have done in the past, OPC shall do everything to defend our land and people.”

The group urged the Nigerian Police, other security agencies and the Armed Forces to be proactive rather than reactionary in tackling non-state actors troubling the country.

According to the OPC, the heightened insecurity appears to be a ploy deliberately targeted at undermining the government of President Bola Tinubu.