The pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, on Saturday said the wave of terror attacks in states bordering the South-West is heightening fears of bandits’ incursion into Yorubaland.
In a statement released on Sunday by its National Publicity Secretary, Jare Ajayi, in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, the group said repeated attacks in Kwara, Kogi and Niger states, as well as recent kidnapping incidents in Ondo, Ekiti and Oyo states, were troubling.
PUNCH Online reports that heavily armed bandits who invaded Woro and Nuku communities in Kaiama Local Government Area of Kwara State last week killed nearly 200 people and abducted several others.
Within the same period, bandits also carried out attacks in neighbouring Kogi and Edo, as well as Niger, Benue, Plateau, Kaduna and Katsina states.
On Thursday, bandits struck in Edo and Oyo states, abducting several residents, including a junior secondary school girl at the Challenge area of Ibadan.
Reacting, Afenifere said, “This is a very disturbing development as cases of abduction seem to be on the increase in Yorubaland.
“Incidents that occurred in places like Ondo, Ibadan, Kaduna etc, took place in the metropolis. Meaning that terror acts are no longer confined to rustic settings where government presence is thin, if at all.
“The challenge area is on the upper end of the Ring Road area of Ibadan on the way to Lagos. Meaning that the kidnapping spot was inside the town.
“Abductions of school children and attacks on worshipping places like churches and mosques as well as markets were commonplace, especially in the Northern parts of the country. Kwara had been added to the league.”
Ajayi recalled that the six South-West governors, at their meeting in Ibadan on November 24, 2025, resolved to strengthen regional security.
“They planned to, among others, establish the South West Security Fund and perhaps monitoring centres for the purpose of tracking would-be terrorists. Only in the outgoing week, the Ogun State Government inaugurated closed-circuit television centres for the same purpose.
“It is, however, not debatable that banditry and terrorism are continuing not because there is no information on or about bandits and terrorists.
“Terrorism is becoming pervasive because even the information available is not being processed and used in the interest of the people.”
Ajayi further stated, “For instance, the head of Woro village in Kaiama, Kwara State, Umar Salihu, said that a letter was written before his village was attacked. He promptly forwarded the letter to the higher authority. Yet, what happened still happened.”
He added, “Thus, rather than dealing with them in line with the provision of the law, they are being pampered.”
The group also criticised reported peace pacts with bandits in some northern states, noting that such agreements had not prevented further attacks.
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