Security agencies must do more to secure the schools
When on the last day of 2025 there was an attack on Ipele in Owo Local Government Area of Ondo State which forced residents to flee to nearby bushes, authorities in the country were alerted about the implications of the Southwest becoming a new front for some criminal cartels. The coordinated attacks last Friday on three schools and abduction of pupils in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State have confirmed that fear. According to reports, gunmen suspected to be terrorists on motorbikes attacked Baptist Nursery and Primary School, Yawota; Community Grammar School, Ahoro-Esinele; and L.A Primary School. An assistant headmaster identified as Mr Adesiyan and a commercial motorcyclist (Okada rider) were killed while a principal and scores of pupils were abducted.
Last weekend, a viral video of the abducted principal of Community Grammar School, Esiele, Mrs Alamu Folawe surfaced online. Obviously traumatised in the footage, she appealed to the federal government, the Oyo State Government, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), and security agencies to ensure their safe release. That the attacks occurred in the same Oyo State where the Southwest governors officially launched ‘Operation Amotekun’ in January 2020 to combat rising insecurity in the region is rather ironic. In its statement last Sunday, Afenifere lamented: “The actions of South-West governors in recent times do not suggest that they appreciate the enormity of the responsibility they shoulder concerning the security of their land.”
