The pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, has condemned the killing of the Ward 5 chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ose Local Government Area (LGA) of Ondo State, Nelson Adepoyigi, by kidnappers.
The Yoruba apex group also frowned at the abduction of a prominent traditional ruler in Kogi State, 100-year-old Oba James Dada Ogunyanda Ilufemiloye, the Obalohun of Okoloke, Okoloke, Yagba West Local Government Area of Kogi State.
In a statement by Afenifere’s National Publicity Secretary, Comrade Jare Ajayi, Afenifere stated that the Obalohun and Adepoyigi cases were not isolated incidents of terrorism and kidnapping “in view of what is going on in places like Benue, Plateau, Borno, Katsina, Nassarawa, Niger, and Sokoto States, among others.”
He said, “In another part of the Yoruba area of Kogi State, Odo-Ape in the Kabba-Bunu Local Government Area, bandits, last December, invaded the settlement around 1:00 a.m., shooting sporadically before abducting eight people.
“Just last week Wednesday, about ten people were reported killed in the Werreng community, Plateau State, after 40 cattle were allegedly killed in Darwat village in the Riyom Local Government Area of the same state.”
Afenifere, however, commended President Bola Tinubu for his determination to put an end to the scourge of terrorism, going by his recent order to service chiefs as well as his approval for the establishment of armed forest guards across the country as part of steps to reclaim Nigeria’s vast forestlands from criminal elements, thus strengthening internal security.
“As part of the strategies to quicken action on putting an end to the menace of insecurity, the much-vaunted state police should be established without further delay,” he said.
“Incidentally, most of the state governors have now agreed that time is indeed ripe for state police to stem banditry and sundry criminal activities.
“An allusion was made to the decision of the Northern States Governors’ Forum and the Northern States Traditional Council which, penultimate Saturday, not only threw their weight behind the creation of state police but also called on the National Assembly to expedite action for its immediate take-off. The decision was taken at the meeting they held in Gombe and presided over by the state’s governor, Inuwa Yahaya, who is also the NGF’s chairman.”
Afenifere also commended the National Assembly for passing the bill to upgrade the College of Agriculture in Kabba to a University of Agriculture and the College of Health Sciences, Egbe, to a University of Medicine and Health Sciences.