*Rejecting The Distraction of Red Herrings: The Real Crisis in Oke-Ogun is Security, Not Ultimatums || By AFOZA Stakeholders*
Our attention has been drawn to a public statement issued by a Fulani socio-cultural group calling on His Excellency, Governor Seyi Makinde, and South-West governors to “caution” Yoruba cultural activist, Chief Sunday Adeyemo (Igboho). This call comes in the wake of a 2-hour ultimatum issued during a high-tension security meeting following the recent, provocative abduction of innocent citizens within the Igboho/Oorelope axis.
As a community, we find it deeply troubling—and structurally hypocritical—that when criminal elements infiltrate our ancestral forests, kidnap pregnant women, children, and local farmers, these socio-cultural groups remain completely mute. Yet, the moment the indigenous population demands immediate accountability and the safe return of their loved ones, the same groups suddenly find their media voice to play the victim card.
As the voice of our stakeholders, we wish to state the following unshakeable facts to set the record straight:
1. The Core Crisis: The Illegal Occupation of Our Forests
We must address the root cause of this persistent terror: the massive, unchecked influx of foreign Bororos who are entirely non-Nigerians. These elements have illegally occupied the vast forest reserves across the Òkè-Ògùn sub-region, turning our ancestral spaces into a lawless safe haven from which they launch horrific attacks on our kinsmen.
With absolute impunity, these foreign syndicates carry out systematic criminal activities—including kidnapping, targeted killings, armed robbery, and the wanton destruction of our flora and fauna. They have posed a severe existential threat to our agrarian communities, forcing our people to live in perpetual fear and rendering them unsafe on their own ancestral homelands. This structural terror is completely unacceptable to the entire people of Òkè-Ògùn.
2. The Security Threat is the Cause; The Ultimatum is a Reaction
Chief Sunday Igboho did not wake up to threaten peaceable, law-abiding residents. His statement was an agonizing, urgent response to the lawless abduction of locals. To criticize the reaction while ignoring the horrific crime of kidnapping is a deliberate attempt to shield criminal syndicates operating in our agrarian corridors.
3. Explicit Solidarity with Law Enforcement Authorities
We acknowledge the official position of the Oyo State Police Command, led by the current Commissioner of Police, CP Abimbola Ayodeji Olugbenga, alongside the leadership of Oorelope Local Government. We are fully aware that intensive operational and intelligence-driven efforts are currently being sustained to ensure the safe rescue of Alhaja Hamzat Adijat,Master Hamzat Abdulmalik and Mr Adeleye Adebayo Adeyemi and all other abductees.
However, given the compounding nature of this foreign infiltration, we strongly urge the Government security forces deployed to Òkè-Ògùn to significantly redouble their efforts, expand their monitoring dragnets, and take the battle directly into the deep recesses of the forests. We urge the Police to expand their intelligence network to investigate the localized logistics chains fueling these operations.
4. True Inclusivity Requires Shared Accountability
If any external group truly desires peace and harmonious cohabitation in Oyo State, their primary assignment should be inside the forests—identifying, exposing, and flushing out the criminal elements within their ranks who feed on ransom negotiations. You cannot demand the protection of the law while your rogue elements systematically destroy the economic livelihoods of the host communities.
OUR POSITION & STRATEGIC CALL TO ACTION:
We call on our amiable President, His Excellency, Bola Ahmed Tinubu (GCFR), Governor Seyi Makinde, the Executive Chairmen of the ten local governments in Òkè-Ògùn, and all our security agencies—including the Police, Military, Immigration, Civil Defence, Forest Guards, and the Amotekun Corps—to remain unyieldingly focused and proactive on the primary objective of ensuring the security of lives and property in Òkè-Ògùn, which remains a highly vulnerable area of Oyo State.
We demand that these forces intensify their joint operations towards the unconditional rescue of all victims and the total, permanent neutralization of forest bandits and illegal foreign invaders. We will not be distracted by press statements designed to shift public attention away from the agony of families whose loved ones are still in captivity. The hands that cultivate the soil must be secured, and our borders will remain heavily defended through every lawful, community-backed architecture available.
The train of regional security has left the station. Peace and ancestral preservation are non-negotiable.
Signed:
David Alani Ige (The Scribe) Public Affairs Commentator & Institutional Strategist For: Advocacy for Òkè-Ògùn Zone Advancement (AFOZA) In Alignment with the Elders, Traditional, Spiritual, and Political Leaders, and all the Good People of Òkè-Ògùn, Oyo State.