Late Mr Michael Ojedokun
I align myself with the suggestion of the Majeobaje Community Development Initiative, a socio-political group in South-West Nigeria, that communities must be trained and equipped “to lawfully defend themselves so they are not frustrated into taking the law into their own hands”. The organisation also advised political office holders to channel more resources towards grassroots security efforts rather than election-related activities. A free-for-all will be messy and may dismantle Nigeria as presently constituted.
The incursion of terrorists from the northern states to the South-West of Nigeria was all too predictable. We had warmed about that possibility over the years. The crisis is not from lack of warnings but from the failure to convert warnings into interoperable, cross-border security. There has been a steady expansion from border belts into SW corridors: After intensified operations up north, armed groups have exploited forest corridors through Kwara, Kogi, and into Ekiti, Oyo, Ondo, and Osun. They’ve entered Ogun forests through Oyo. Rural dwellers have been warning the nation on social media for a while. Governments at all levels — especially state and local governments — failed their people.
