Alafin Condemns National Park Attack, Calls For Establishment Of Military Base

Following the attack at the Old Oyo National Park, the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Abimbola Akeem Owoade has called for the establishment of a military base at Otefon Village to fortify the region and secure the Oyo-Oduduwa corridor.

In a statement issued on Friday, the monarch condemned the brutal attack on Oloka village and the killing of civilians and rangers within Park, declaring it an assault on Yoruba sovereignty and ancestral heritage and also sympathizing with the families of the forest guards.

Alaafin’s Director of Media and Publicity, Bode Durojaiye, the monarch said “The recent brutal killings inside Old Oyo National Park, especially the massacre at Oloko is not merely a security breach, it is a dagger plunged into the heart of our ancestral empire.

“Our sacred forests, our game reserves, our historic grounds where our kings once hunted with spears and drums are now being turned into slaughter yards by armed marauders. This will not stand”

The monarch, while describing the attack as a senseless murder of innocent civilians, rangers, and travelers in Old Oyo National Park, demanded full, transparent investigation and immediate arrest of all perpetrators.

He called for “Establishment of Military Base designation of Otefon Village as a permanent armed military base of the kingdom “to fortify the region and secure the Oyo-Oduduwa corridor.

“Deployment of Yoruba Defense Force Battalions under joint command of the Nigerian Army and traditional warrior chiefs to patrol the park 24/7 and repel invaders”.

He called for federal government recognition to declare Otefon a strategic national security zone and fund construction of barracks, watchtowers, and helipad within the next few months.

The traditional ruler who described banditry and other security challenges facing the country as, “gory, worrisome and disturbing”, pointed out that security was critical to the survival of any nation to forestall lawlessness, chaos and disorder.

Oba Owoade lauded President Bola Tinubu’s demonstration, through actions, that ending insecurity as one of his administration’s foremost concerns.

“Our ancestors did not build empires to watch them crumble under banditry. We will rebuild the walls not with mud, but with steel. Not with prayers alone, but with patrols. Not with silence but with thunder”, Alaafin said.