•Bandits
The killing of five Forest Guards during a bandit attack on the National Park Service (NPS) office in Oloka, Orire Local Government Area of Oyo State, has sparked widespread concern across the South-West geopolitical zone.
The attack, which occurred on Tuesday night, comes barely a month after armed assailants attacked Christian worshippers in Eruku, a Yoruba community in Kwara State, and follows a recent invasion of Ipele in Owo Local Government Area of Ondo State, where several residents were displaced and forced to flee into nearby bushes for safety.
Reacting to the development, an Ibadan-based security expert, Mr. Olugbenga Oludayo, condemned the resurgence of banditry in the South-West and urged state governors in the region to urgently rise to the challenge of safeguarding lives and property, reports Saturday Independent.
“It is high time governors in the South-West rose to their responsibilities of providing adequate security for the citizenry. Our borders are porous and need to be properly secured. Our forests must also be adequately guarded,” he said.
Oludayo warned that bandits dislodged from the North following recent air strikes may be seeking new hideouts in the South-West’s vast forest reserves.
“If care is not taken, these criminals will turn our forests into their habitats, and this is very dangerous for us,” he added.
Another security expert with over two decades of experience, Mr. Dotun George Alabi, also linked the recent attacks in the South-West to the military air strikes on bandits’ camps in the North-East.
According to him, the relative peace enjoyed in the South-West may now make the region a prime target.
“We have deep forest reserves, most of which are government-owned. These forests must be properly monitored. South-West governments should support security agencies with modern technology such as drones and surveillance aircraft,” Alabi said.
He noted that security challenges had gone beyond equipping local hunters and Amotekun operatives with single-barrel guns.
“There should be joint operations involving the Nigerian Army, Police, NSCDC Agro-Rangers, local hunters and other security outfits. Once these criminals see the level of preparedness, they will be forced to flee,” he said.
Alabi expressed concern over the spate of attacks recorded early in the year.
“In this new year alone, we have recorded attacks in Ondo and Oyo states. Our highways are no longer safe. Our leaders must wake up before it is too late,” he warned.
Meanwhile, the Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Afenifere, also decried the upsurge in terror attacks across Yorubaland and other parts of Nigeria.
In a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Jare Ajayi, Afenifere condemned the killing of Forest Guards at the Old Oyo National Park in Oloka, Orire Local Government Area, as well as the killing of four farmers in Igboho, Oorelope Local Government Area of Oyo State.
The group also lamented the abduction of a nursing mother and her child in Supare/Ajegunle, Akoko South Local Government Area of Ondo State, the arrest of suspected bandits allegedly fleeing Sokoto after the United States’ bombardment of their hideouts, and the burning of a police station in Ipele, Ondo State.
Afenifere urged South-West governors to implement the resolutions reached at their meeting in Ibadan on November 24, 2025, which focused on regional security.
Similarly, a United States-based pro-democracy organisation, National Democratic Coalition (NADECO USA), called on President Bola Tinubu to declare a six-month state of emergency in states affected by insurgency and banditry.
