Voice of Emancipation: Rising Spate of Insecurity in Yorubaland

By Kayode Emola

This week we heard the harrowing news of how scores of Fulani terrorist groups have surrounded our forests up and down Yorubaland from Brigadier-General Kunle Togun (Rtd). Should anyone know better about the dangers we face as Yoruba then I believe General Togun should be a voice to be reckoned with as the former SSS Director and former Chief Commandant of Amotekun in Oyo State.

We heard General Togun narrating his ordeal with the Federal Government in trying to combat this nefarious group in our forests. Yet we Yoruba are sitting on our hands and waiting for the day the Federal Government will come to our rescue. Let’s not forget that the Federal Government under Buhari has allowed these invaders into our space since 2015.

If Tinubu since becoming President in 2023 has not made any efforts to reverse this invasion, then we need to take steps as Yoruba to fight these insecurities as best as we could. It is now time for us as Yoruba to strengthen and empower our local hunters who have been an integral part of our local security from time immemorial. We cannot ignore this warning from General Togun and go to sleep with our eyes closed as if nothing is at stake.

Yoruba is now more than ever in an existential crisis, and it is time for us all to rise to the occasion and save our heritage from going into extinction. We cannot assume that emigrating abroad is the solution to fighting insecurity in Yorubaland. We should empower our people at home with the equipment they need to confront this threat that we all face.

It is not surprising that Tinubu who is the President of Nigeria now, and who is a Yoruba has not been able to confront this challenge. The Nigeria he is handling has way bigger problems from insecurity to the economy that the President would not have time for his Yoruba homeland.

We cannot assume that because Tinubu is the President of Nigeria, he will necessarily be interested in confronting the terrorists in our forests. Tinubu has shown severally that he is more interested in becoming President than doing the work of a President. Little wonder why he spends more time abroad than in the country he is supposed to be overseeing.

His policies even though are laudable do not actually guarantee a prosperous future for the country that he leads. The only good thing about Tinubu’s policies is that it has exposed how fragile Nigeria’s unity is. It has led to the clarion call by the Arewa North to secede from Nigeria despite their insistence that Nigeria is indivisible.

We should therefore not assume that it is a given that since a Yoruba man is the President of Nigeria, then we are safe. These terrorists hibernating in our forests can one day rise to wage war against us. They have tried to lure our people into accepting Sharia which failed but they have not stopped at that but brazenly called for Jihad if we refuse Sharia in Yorubaland.

Therefore, the last option available to us now is to strengthen our hunters to have a chance to defend ourselves. There’s no point thinking that the Governors will be able to help as they themselves as Chief—Security Officers of their States are toothless bulldogs who cannot bite.

If we are to stand any chance of survival, we should try to go to work now to secure our borders from these marauding invaders rather than pander to the mediocre tactics of the Federal Government. We must act now to save Yorubaland so that we do not regret our non-action in a few years time.