..Decry spate of banditry in the Senatorial District

A coalition of Kwara South Youth Groups, under the aegis of Igbomina Youth Assembly (IYAss), Kwara South Youth Development Organisation (KWAYORG), Kwara South Consultative Youth Forum (KSCYE), as well as all Kwara South community-based youth associations, have decried the surge in banditry and kidnappings in the Senatorial District.

The groups have, therefore, urged the state government to impose a 12-hour curfew in the affected communities in Kwara South, lamenting the recent bloody attacks by bandits on Oreke, Babanla, Ganmu-Alheri, Bankole, Shagbe, and Ologomo communities, all in Ifelodun local government area of the State.

At a press conference on Friday in Ilorin, the state capital, the spokesman of the groups, who is the President of IYAss, Ajibola Olugbenga, called for an “immediate and heavy deployment of military forces into Kwara South to restore order, dislodge bandits, and secure our communities.

“This must include a full military base in the affected axis, and not just occasional patrols; including treating emergency security operations 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 remain the first line of defense for our people.

“Declaration of a 12-hour curfew (6:00 pm-6:00 am) in the most affected communities to allow military operations to flush out these criminals.”

Other demands, according to Engr. Olugbenga, include the “creation of a joint security task force with federal, state, and local governments’ involvement, alongside youth representatives, to ensure coordinated response and accountability and swift federal intervention programmes to rehabilitate displaced persons, rebuild destroyed communities, and prevent further mass migration.”

He added that the attacks had made farming activities difficult in the Kwara South axis, saying:
“Farmers can no longer access their farmlands; traders and travellers live in terror; and families are fleeing ancestral homes that have existed for centuries.

“With farmers displaced, a major food crisis looms, threatening not only Kwara State but also urban centres across Nigeria that depend on Kwara South for agricultural produce.

“The Kwara State government, under Mallam AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, the National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, the Federal Government, and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu must understand that what we face in Kwara South is nothing short of terrorism. We, therefore, 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. The time to act is now. We acknowledge the past efforts of government and our traditional rulers who have spoken against this menace. We do not need rhetoric, we need action. We do not need promises, we need protection.”

Speaking with journalists on the sideline of the event, the President of KWAYORG, Prince Abolarin Ibrahim, appealed to members of the National Assembly and other political office holders from the Senatorial District to join forces with the State and Federal Governments to nip the menace in the bud so that residents can sleep with their two eyes close and go about their normal businesses without fear or intimidation.