Pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, has expressed serious concern over the torching of offices of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in some parts of the country and frequency of kidnap incidents in the South West region.
The organisation in a press statement issued by its national publicity secretary, Jare Ajayi, stated that the frequency and ferocity of kidnapping on Lagos Ibadan Expressway in recent times are engendering so much concern regarding the territorial expansion of terrorists and bandits.
Afenifere recalled the kidnapping that took place near Dominion University and Sagamu Interchange on Lagos-Ibadan Expressway in the past weeks. The victims of the kidnappings included the former deputy vice chancellor of the University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Oyo State, Prof Adigun Agbaje, and five others. Agbaje was released after payment of a ransom running into millions of naira.
Reports also had it that the suspected Fulani bandits attacked travellers on October 27, 2022, abducting five persons and killing several others. Two days after, on October 29th, seven bandits in Irele Ekiti-Oke Ako Highway in Ajoni Local Council Development Area, Ekiti State abducted four travellers.
One of the survivors of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway kidnapping, 22-year old Aminat Taiwo, said that the “kidnappers were more than 30; they covered their faces. They were putting on army and police uniforms.”
She later added that they shot victims whose relatives could not pay the demanded ransoms.
‘’On Tuesday, November 8 this year, gunmen dressed in military uniforms again attacked commuters travelling on Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. The gunmen reportedly stormed the road near Sagamu Interchange Lagos and shot at passengers in the 18-passenger inter-state bus,’’ they said.
The organisation stated that the reports of the burning of the offices of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Abeokuta, Ogun State and Ede, Osun State at the weekend also disturbed it because of the implication it may have on the 2023 general elections among others. As had happened in some southern eastern states.
According to group, “unauthorised burning of any property is condemnable by all standards. The fact that this type of arson reared its head in the South West is unacceptable. It should be thoroughly investigated and made to be the last of such occurrences. There should be no excuse whatsoever to put the 2023 general elections in jeopardy”
Afenifere noted that gunmen invasion of a Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State in June this year, where some people were kidnapped, incidents of kidnapping on a farm near Ipapo and on Okaka-Otu Road both in Oke ogun, as well as the ones that took place in Ibarapa area of Oyo State were unacceptable.
“It would be recalled that the situation has become so dire that marauders do even invade houses to pick victims. For instance, last Monday, a Catholic priest, Father Kunat and eight others were abducted in separate attacks in Idon, Kajuru Local Government Area and in Oil Village, a suburb of Kaduna metropolis, located near the Kaduna refinery. ”
Afenifere therefore called on the federal government to show more seriousness in tackling the problem of kidnapping “to prevent Nigeria from becoming another Afghanistan.
“In the last two years, incidents of kidnapping occurred in the South West. But the menace had become more pronounced in recent times. For instance, between January and October this year, several kidnappings have taken place on Lagos-Ibadan expressway as well as on Oyo-Ogbomoso-Ilorin Expressway with some captives losing their lives even after ransoms were paid.
Afenifere thereby implores the South West governments to turn Amotekun into a strong regional outfit to protect the zone, urging the South West governors to collectively approach President Muhammadu Buhari along with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to let them save their people from being enslaved by bandits.
