Afenifere Tackles FG On Worsening Insecurity, Corruption In Governance

The Pan-Nigerian sociopolitical group Afenifere, has expressed dissatisfaction with the Federal Government’s handling of the worsening insecurity and the growing spate of official corruption in the country.

In a statement issued by the National Leader, Oba Oladipo Olaitan, and made available to newsmen on Monday by the National Publicity Secretary, Prince Justice Faloye, the group said these concerns formed part of the communiqué released after its recent meeting.

Specifically, Afenifere criticised the government’s failure to take proactive measures to curb the continued attacks and killings by organised terrorists in Kwara and Kogi States, noting that the attacks bear genocidal undertones aimed at entrenching a socio-economic and political agenda.

The group stated that comprehensive reports it gathered indicated worsening insecurity in the two states, with persistent genocidal attacks by organised Fulani terrorists. It added that the Presidency can no longer prevaricate or delay the implementation of state policing under the guise of seeking national consensus.

“The unrelenting attacks by the marauding invaders are in pursuit of an agenda orchestrated by Fulani elites to conquer and occupy territories of other Nigerian ethnic nationalities as a social, economic and political ideology which must stop,” the statement read.

Afenifere further accused successive governments of being held hostage by a “minority invader group” obsessed with a sense of ownership over Nigeria’s more than 250 million indigenous nationalities.

“Afenifere declares that the Nigerian state has failed in the primary duty of the collective defence of its constituent nationalities and protection of life and property of its citizens as the fundamental essence of its existence,” the group stated.

The group cited continued killings and displacement in several Yoruba-speaking communities in Kwara South and Kogi West Senatorial District, including Oke-Ode, Ologomo, Ajegunle, Oreke, Ganmu, Babanla, Ayetoro, Ejiba, Isanlu, Obajana, and many others. It described the Sunday attacks on Oke-Ode as the height of the persistent suffering faced by residents in the two states.

Afenifere condemned what it called the “festival of killings” being perpetrated by organised Fulani terrorists and urged the Federal Government to treat the situation as the greatest assault on Nigeria’s corporate existence.

It maintained that a multilateral security architecture is indispensable in a federation like Nigeria and called on the President to declare a state of emergency on security to fast-track the introduction of state and community policing.

The group also urged ethnic nationalities to rise to the defence of their people by adopting adequate security measures, including traditional mechanisms, to protect their territories. It commended the South-West governors for the establishment of the Amotekun Security Network, urging them to strengthen the outfit and procure adequate weapons for the defence of Yoruba land.

On corruption, Afenifere expressed concern over rising allegations and published evidence of official corruption, which it said has embarrassed Nigeria internationally.

“We call on the President, on whose table the buck stops, to commence fair and transparent investigation of these allegations to clear the Government and redeem the image of the country,” the group stated.

It urged President Bola Tinubu to ask any indicted officials to step aside pending investigation, as was done with the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation over the use of a private bank account for ministry transactions.

“The President cannot afford the image of harbouring unelected sacred cows at whose altar the President and the people of Nigeria who elected him now worship. As the Yoruba says, ‘An okro plant should not grow taller than the farmer who planted it,’” Afenifere added.