Pan Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, has called on the Federal and state governments as well as security agencies to put a halt to the hike in insecurity breaches in the country so as to prevent the establishment of camps for the Internally Displaced People (IDP) in the South as has been happening in parts of the North of the country.
Afenifere made the call on Monday in a statement issued by its spokesperson, Comrade Jare Ajayi, noting sadly that the spate of attacks on communities and on individuals in the South had escalated thus engendering fears in the people in regard to their personal safety.
This was just as the pan- Yoruba organization urged state governors across the country to meet with President Muhammadu Buhari and the leadership of the National Assembly on the need to establish State Police “as a matter of urgent necessity.”
“From all indications, state governors have a lot of clout because the Constitution invests them with a lot of powers. They should, as Chief Security Officers of their respective states, impress it on the powers that be in Abuja that the country is now in such a serious crossroads security-wise, that they must be allowed to take the bull by the horn. They can do this by having state police,” Afenifere said.
Afenifere added that should the governors in all the 36 states of the country not be able to agree on this matter, governors in the South should go to Abuja to get this done as, according to it, there is no other way out.
“Reports of armed attacks on communities, religious places, farmlands and sometimes homes occur almost every week if not daily in different parts of the country.
“Such used to be restricted to the North, North-East especially. But today, it has spread even to the South which used to be safe.
“It would be recalled that the displacement of people by terrorists and militias led to the setting up of camps for those who survived attacks on their settlements.
“Reports have it that people running into millions are in various Internally Displaced Persons’ (IDPs’) Camps in different parts of some northern states. Predictably, life in such camps is not a bed of roses,” the pan- Yoruba group stated.
“Even some dwellers in some communities have to be paying ransom or levy to terrorists for them to be allowed to stay and earn a living. Farmers are more affected hence the high prices of foodstuffs as fewer people are able to cultivate farmlands and harvest their farm products,” it added.
Speaking further, Afenifere recalled that President Buhari, when coming to power in 2019, promised Nigerians to tackle at least three main afflictions bedevilling the country; namely insecurity, corruption and the dwindling economy, adding: “In none of the three key areas can Nigerians doff their hats for the administration seven years down the line.”
This was just as it further recalled that just last On Tuesday June 21, 2022, the president directed security agencies to explore every means possible to immediately secure the release of passengers kidnapped by gunmen from the ill-fated Kaduna-bound train months ago in March.
According to Afenifere, President Buhari’s directive last Tuesday was not the first, not the second, not even the third along the same line, recalling further that on March 29, 2021, the National Security Adviser (NSA), Alhaji Munguno, had announced that the president was so worried about the growing insecurity in the country that he ordered his security chiefs to “take out” terrorists, kidnappers and their sponsors, adding: “Similar orders and directives had been given before and after that.”
“Unfortunately, it was as though the more such directives were given the more ferocious the terrorists and bandits become.
“For it was after several of such directives that the Owo Massacre in which more than 40 people lost their lives. Owo is in Ondo State.
“Several people in Kaduna, Nassarawa, Benue, Borno, Plateau, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu etc. had experienced the same fate.
“Over the weekend, two pastors in Kaduna and Edo States were brutally killed by terrorists who kidnapped them. Fr. Vitus Borogo, a priest serving in the Archdiocese of Kaduna, was killed on June 25 at Prison Farm, Kujama, along Kaduna-Kachia Road, after a raid on the farm by Terrorists while Fr. Christopher Odia was kidnapped from his rectory at St. Michael Catholic Church, Ikabigbo, Uzairue, Edo State, around 6:30 am on June 26.
“In the case of the Edo Catholic priest, he was killed even after a ransom running into millions was reportedly paid for his life,” it said.
“Earlier this month, June, indigenes of Kwari village in Jibiya Local Government Area of Katsina said that over 80 people were kidnapped by bandits who invaded their community and set their food barns and local shops on fire. Last week Thursday, an unspecified number of residents of Rahamawa and Shagari Low-cost Housing Estates of Katsina State were abducted by bandits. Reports have it that the attackers came in broad daylight,” it added.
Meanwhile, the pan- Yoruba socio- political group, Afenifere has commended the Ondo State governor, Mr Rotimi Akeredolu, that Close Circuit TV (CCTV) Cameras be installed in places that members of the public gather often such as churches, mosques, schools, hospitals, market places, motor parks, among others.
The governor made the call, while hosting members of All Souls Church, Ibadan on a condolence visit to his office on Wednesday last week, even as he repeated an alarm he had been sounding lately, that forests in the South Western part of country had been infiltrated by armed bandits who, he said, planned to overrun the land at any time.
Afenifere, while giving the commendation, commendation, urged other governors, especially those in the South-West to emulate him.
“But given the limitations of state governments in the control of security apparatus in their respective states, it is incumbent that they are allowed to transform their present security organisations such as Amotekun into a full-fledged Police so that they would be in a better position to effectively utilize the information gathered from the CCTV monitoring,” the pan- Yoruba group demanded.
On the recent directive by the Zamfara State government that people in the state should start carrying arms to defend themselves, Afenifere decried the step, maintaining that asking everyone to carry gun was not the solution to the problem.
The group, which observed that Zamfara had, given the worse situation, joined Katsina to issue such directive said it was an open declaration of failure on the part of the government.
“This is why we are strongly advocating for the establishment of State Police,” Afenifere reiterated.
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Stem insurgency in the south… Stem insurgency in the south… Stem insurgency in the south… Stem insurgency in the south…
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