Afenifere, the pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, has identified sabotage, complicity, corruption, and territorial expansion as some of the reasons behind the pervasiveness of banditry, kidnapping, and terrorism in Nigeria.
Afenifere suggested the re-orientation of people in the areas concerned on the need to place greater value on life, debriefing and de-radicalisation of youths, among steps to be taken to address the challenge.
A statement issued by the organisation’s National Publicity Secretary, Comrade Jare Ajayi, on Sunday, stated that efforts made over the years to stem various iniquities in Nigeria have been ineffectual because the very people who are supposed to make them fruitful are the ones sabotaging them.
Ajayi noted that such tendencies are behind the government’s various policies and efforts, which have repeatedly failed.
The statement reads, “Be it on electricity, water, energy, education, agriculture, economy and now insecurity, the reason for the seeming failure of strategies of governments in these sectors are the corrupt tendencies of some cabals in high places who sabotage efforts meant to sanitise the system and enhance the well-being of the people.
He recalled that in recent times, incidents of kidnapping, cattle rustling, banditry bordering on genocide, and territorial expansionism have become rampant.
“These inhumane acts were confined to the North-Eastern and North-Western parts of Nigeria, but now they’ve spread to other parts. Yorubaland, which used to be comparatively safe, has been infiltrated with many people already kidnapped, while some have lost their lives. This is especially prevalent in parts of Kogi, Kwara, Osun, Ekiti, and Ondo States, as well as in Oke-ogun and Ibarapa areas of Oyo State. Yewa and Ijebu Waterside areas of Ogun State are not exempted.
“Afenifere, like many other well-meaning people, is highly concerned about this menace. At the best of times, an individual has to struggle to make ends to meet. Now, the first consideration is safety, before one thinks of what to do to keep life going. This is why Afenifere keeps calling the attention of those concerned to the challenges with a view to finding a workable and enduring solution to the problem”.
The organisation lamented that the problem would have been over but for the complicity of the very people who are supposed to put an end to the menace. “Consider for instance, some leaders in the North who said that any attack on bandits would be regarded as an attack on their tribe cum the advocacy of some so-called leaders that bandits should be negotiated with rather than be apprehended and prosecuted in accordance with the law. Or some governors, particularly in the North, who chose to reward terrorists by pardoning them and giving them incentives. These steps are among the reasons why banditry is thriving and doesn’t appear to be conquerable so soon”.
The organisation noted that the desire to scare people away from their ancestral homes and take over their lands is behind the frequent attacks on some areas, occasioning loss of lives, abductions, and imposition of levies on residents of those areas. “This particular action can be laid at the doorstep of some unscrupulous herders who want to take over other people’s lands for the purpose of grazing their cattle, as well as foreign interests who are bent on mining our natural resources without wanting to follow due process.
“Those engaged in these nefarious activities are within some of the communities as well as in high places in and outside the country. “
Afenifere, therefore suggested steps to be taken to tackle the menace, to include concrete re-orientation of people in the areas concerned on the need to place greater value on life, debriefing and de-radicalisation of youths who had been negatively indoctrinated, restructuring the security architecture, monitoring ‘ungoverned spaces’, appropriate training of security personnel, motivation and empowerment of the personnel including the provision of modern security equipment as well as the immediate take-off of state police.
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