THE abduction of teachers and over 40 pupils from schools in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State on May 15, and the barbaric beheading of Michael Oyedokun, marked the end of a long-held illusion in the South-West.
With it, terrorism is no longer a distant northern calamity. It has dawned in the region. Therefore, governors and other stakeholders must act now. The region must not be overrun by terrorists.
The murder of Oyedokun, a mathematics teacher, must not be dismissed as an isolated incident. Terrorists are testing the region’s resolve. They mean business.
The human tragedy behind this horror is staggering. A teacher has been butchered before the eyes of a traumatised nation. A family has been shattered. Children have lost a father. Dependants have lost their provider.
His colleagues now go to work in fear, uncertain whether the classroom has become a death trap. Parents who once worried about school fees must now worry whether their children will return home alive.
