Taiwoi POPOOLA
The Pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, has expressed grave concern over a surge in violent attacks across parts of Nigeria, including Kwara, Kogi, Niger, Ondo, Ekiti and Oyo States.
In a statement by Jare Ajayi, the group recalled that heavily armed bandits recently invaded Woro and Nuku communities in Kaiama Local Government Area of Kwara State, reportedly killing nearly 200 people and abducting several others.
The attacks, it noted, extended to neighbouring states, including Edo, Benue, Plateau, Kaduna, and Katsina.
Highlighting the growing threat to urban areas, Afenifere cited the abduction of a schoolgirl in broad daylight in Ibadan’s Challenge area, stressing that “terror acts are no longer confined to rustic settings where government presence is thin, if at all.”https://urbanexpresslive.com/afenifere-sound-the-alarm-over-banditry-kidnappings-says-yorubaland-under-threat/
Ajayi urged governors of the South-West and neighbouring states to implement stronger security measures that would allow residents to “sleep with their two eyes closed.”
He recalled that South-West governors, during their meeting in Ibadan on November 24, 2025, had agreed to establish a South-West Security Fund and monitoring centres, noting that Ogun State had already inaugurated CCTV monitoring facilities.
“The problem, therefore, is not lack of information, but the will to use the information in the interest of the people,” Ajayi said, calling for the immediate take-off of state police and stronger local security arrangements.
Afenifere warned that continued attacks in states bordering the South-West could lead to a full-scale incursion into Yorubaland if decisive action was not taken.
