By Comrade James Onifade
The recent brazen attacks on schools in Oyo State’s Oriire Local Government Area have sent shockwaves across the Southwest. Armed gunmen, suspected to be bandits with ties to broader terrorist networks, stormed multiple institutions in broad daylight.
This is no longer a distant Northern problem. Banditry and terror have crossed firmly into Oyo and Kwara states, bringing fear and grief to communities once considered relatively safer. Kwara has recorded deadly massacres, attacks on police camps, and widespread displacement, while Oyo now faces school invasions that mirror the worst horrors in the Northwest. Under the federal watch of the “Emi Lokan” administration, the response from the centre has been characteristically muted, leaving states to largely fend for themselves amid a national security system many see as overwhelmed and distracted. Nigerians, especially in the West, are left asking: How did we get here? And what must be done before the situation spirals completely out of control?
The Human Cost and the Silence
Innocent lives hang in the balance. Families in Ahoro-Esinele, Yawota, and surrounding communities live in mourning and palpable fear. The trauma inflicted on abducted children, their parents, and educators is deep and lasting. It is profoundly sad to be a Nigerian in moments like this, where the value of human life appears negotiable to bloodthirsty criminals.
Many fear that without swift ransom payments or decisive government action, more lives will be lost. Religious leaders and communities are calling for deeper devotion—whether Christian, Islamic, or traditional spiritual fortification—to shield families from this impending doom, often linked to Fulani banditry networks. Faith and cultural resilience have their place, but they cannot replace good governance and effective security.
Call to Action: Governor Seyi Makinde and the Southwest
Governor Seyi Makinde has taken some initial steps, such as inaugurating a Violent Crime Response Unit and coordinating with security agencies. However, the speed, scale, and evolving nature of this threat demand far more proactive, aggressive, and sustained intervention.
Governor Makinde must immediately elevate this crisis to the very top of Oyo State’s agenda. Intelligence gathering, rapid response capabilities, and community vigilance networks need drastic improvement. Schools in vulnerable rural areas require immediate armed protection or temporary closure with safe alternative learning arrangements. Forest reserves bordering trouble spots, particularly areas near Old Oyo National Park, must undergo sustained clearance and security operations to deny bandits sanctuary and operational bases.
Politics apart, I was wrong in thinking that mass kidnapping of this magnitude was not possible in the Southwest. The reality has now hit us hard: bandits are truly at our doorstep. Therefore, I expect an emergency security summit of all Southwest governors to be convened without delay.
This gathering should not be another talk shop but a decisive platform to forge a unified response. Crucially, Southwest governors across party lines must rise above political differences to tighten borders and build a robust inter-state security architecture. Oyo, Osun, Ekiti, Ondo, Lagos, and Ogun should, without delay, establish a Joint Southwest Security Network featuring shared intelligence platforms, joint border patrols, synchronized security operations, and coordinated rapid response teams, with special focus on the volatile Oyo-Kwara boundary.
Past ad-hoc efforts to contain spillover from Kwara have proven the value of such collaboration. The time has come to formalize, adequately fund, and aggressively implement it.
This is not the season for federal buck-passing or partisan blame games. State governors control local resources, vigilante networks, traditional institutions, and community structures that can powerfully complement federal forces. Proactive intelligence-led operations, deployment of modern surveillance technology, functional community reporting hotlines, and well-equipped local security outfits can mean the difference between life and death for our people.
The Broader Crisis
Nigeria’s security challenges are rooted in weak governance, vast ungoverned spaces, grinding economic despair, and the failure to address underlying drivers such as herder-farmer conflicts and unchecked criminal migration.
The Southwest, long celebrated as a bastion of relative stability and economic vitality, cannot afford to slide into the next theater of endless ransom-driven terror.
Innocent citizens—farmers, traders, teachers, and schoolchildren—deserve immediate rescue and sustainable protection. While many continue to pray to God for divine intervention, governors bear the earthly responsibility to act boldly and without further delay.
Governor Seyi Makinde and his counterparts across the Southwest: history will judge your response to this dangerous encroachment. Tighten the borders, empower local security, convene the emergency security summit, demand improved federal support without passive waiting, and place the lives of citizens above politics. The people of Oyo and the entire region are watching with anxiety.
The time for quiet and complacency is over. The Southwest must rise in unified defence of its people. Act decisively now before more blood stains our land and more innocent futures are violently cut short.
Signed:
Comrade James Onifade
Advocate for Good Governance and A Better Judicial System
