Some concerned youths in Kwara South Senatorial District have called for immediate and heavy deployment of military forces into the area to restore order and dislodge bandits from their communities.
The demand was made at a press conference addressed by the leaders of Igbomina Youth Assembly (IYAss), Kwara South Youth Development Organisation (KWAYORG), Kwara South Consultative Youth Forum (KSCYE) and all Kwara South community-based youth associations.
Spokesperson of the groups and the president of IYAss, Engr. Ajibola Olugbenga at the media forum held at Igbomina House, Ganmo, also called for a full military base in the affected axis, not just occasional patrols.
Olugbenga added that emergency security operations should be treated as a matter of national urgency, with military surveillance, air support, and “combing of forests where terrorists are hiding, provision of modern arms and logistics to community hunters and vigilantes who are the first line of defense for our people”.
He also called for a “declaration of a 12-hour curfew (6pm – 6am) in the most affected communities to allow military operations to flush out these criminals.”
“Our other demands include, creation of a joint security task force with federal, state, and local involvements, alongside youth representatives, to ensure coordinated response and accountability, swift federal intervention programmes to rehabilitate displaced persons, rebuild destroyed communities, and prevent further mass migration,” he said.
He lamented that bandit attacks on some communities in the district had made farming activities difficult in the Kwara south axis.
While acknowledging the past efforts of government and traditional rulers at solving the problem, Olugbenga, however, insisted that, “We demand military presence. We demand emergency intervention. We demand justice for our slain leaders and protection for the living. A threat to Kwara South is a threat to Nigeria”, he said.
Also speaking, KWAYORG president, Prince Abolarin Sharafa admonished members of the National Assembly and other political office holders from the district to join forces with the state and federal government to flush out terrorists from the communities.
