WHAT was once dismissed as a distant Northern crisis is slowly being entrenched into Nigeria’s economic heartland in the South-West.
Kidnappings on highways once considered safe, attacks on farming communities, school invasions, violent incursions into forests, routine assaults on traditional rulers, and growing criminal networks exploiting porous interstate borders are evidence of a region increasingly under siege.
The brazen Friday attacks on three schools in Oyo State that resulted in at least three deaths and the kidnapping of 46 pupils and teachers must be the last straw. One of the teachers was later beheaded by the attackers.
So, the South-West, especially its leaders, cannot afford the luxury of inaction.
The region has a long history of repelling invaders and protecting its towns and villages.
