Afenifere, the pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, has decried the invasion of South-Western Nigeria by terrorists in recent times and urges governments and security agencies to do more in tackling the menace of banditry.
Comrade Jare Ajayi, National Publicity Secretary of the socio-political organisation, in a statement on Saturday, predicated the Yoruba people’s concern on the near daily occurrences of the devaluation of human life in some states in the region, going by the barbaric manner in which the lives of kidnapped victims are being wasted and how abductees were being mercilessly beaten and degraded.
Among the cases cited were that of Ondo State, where churches, police stations, individual homes, and highways were attacked. Also in Kwara, where communities were sacked, and in Oke Ogun, Oyo State, where farmers were killed, and travelers were attacked on the Igbeti-Kisi road, etcetera.
Afenifere recalled the saga of one of the kidnappers of a medical doctor and his brother in Benin, Edo State. He and his gang had killed the younger brother of the doctor and released the doctor after collecting the ransom. The daughter of one of the kidnappers fell ill. He and a partner took the girl to the hospital, where the abducted but released doctor was on duty. The doctor recognised his abductors and got the police to arrest them.
The socio-political organisation is emphatic that the problem is not insurmountable, as bandits are not spirits or invisible, and stresses that one way to tackle the challenge is to block the sources of funding for the bandits. “The sources include some unscrupulous wealthy individuals, organisations (local and international), some state actors, as well as communities paying protection money (sometimes known as ‘protection levies’ or ‘harvest fees’), ransoms being collected from captives, and from outright stealing.
“Government should also look in the direction of foreign interests engaged in illegal mining without following normal procedures as possible masterminds of the outright sacking of communities.
“Confessions of some of them that had been apprehended and tried revealed that they had sponsors. As such, what needs to be done includes going decisively after the sponsors of the bandits and their middlemen, blocking the sources of their funding and weapons, raiding the bushes in which they harbour, effectively blocking corruption and sabotage in the forces, empowering and motivating security personnel, as well as the immediate take-off of state police.
Afenifere commended President Bola Tinubu for being resolute in getting state police off the ground, as evidenced by, among others, his call on the National Assembly to expedite action to amend the relevant sections of the Constitution to enable state police take-off immediately.
Afenifere also lauded the new IGP, Mr. Tunji Disu, for his commitment, as evidenced by his inauguration of a committee to work on the modality for state police.
It called on governments of the South-West to immediately put in place mechanisms to raid bushes where these bandits are hiding, maintain regular surveillance of the bushes, and cooperate with the federal government to ensure the prompt take-off of state police in their respective states.
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