The Yoruba socio-cultural group, the Oodua People’s Congress, has urged governors of the South-West zone, Kwara, Kogi, and other states described as “Yoruba-speaking” to immediately declare a state of emergency over escalating insecurity.
The OPC made the call in a statement issued by the Chairman of Dr. Frederick Fasehun’s OPC Caretaker Committee, Kazeem Lawal, on Tuesday.
The statement followed the recent killing of over 100 persons in Woro and Nuku communities in the Kaiama Local Government Area of Kwara State.
The OPC described the killings as heartbreaking and provocative, insisting that the jihadist terrorists who committed the crime must be hunted down and shot on the spot by security agents.
Lawal cautioned governors of the South-West and other states with Yoruba-speaking indigenes against politicising the prevailing insecurity, urging them instead to collaborate in proffering and procuring rapid solutions.
“Governors of the 10 Yoruba-speaking states must immediately declare a state of emergency on security to reflect the gravity of the situation. With these rampaging terrorists, bandits and jihadists and their activities, all Nigerians face an existential threat, and all hands must be mobilised to identify, locate and neutralise these evil monsters,” Lawal said.
The organisation urged the Federal Government, the Kwara State Government and security agencies to declare a massive manhunt to locate and apprehend the killers.
“Those who committed this dastardly act are not spirits. All available resources must be mobilised to hunt down, arrest, prosecute and annihilate these killers,” Lawal said.
Lawal said the only way to redress last week’s killings in Kwara communities was through the apprehension, prosecution and execution of those responsible.
“Such cold-blooded killers do not deserve a second chance. They should be shot on sight to give them a dose of their own medicine and serve as a deterrent to others planning to follow in their evil footsteps. These killers have committed a wicked crime against God and humanity and must be made to suffer supreme punishment,” he said.
Declaring its readiness to defend Yoruba land and people, the OPC warned that it would not allow terrorists to fester and overwhelm the South-West as they have, according to it, done in the North.
“We shall not cede the land of our birth to Fulani herdsmen and Islamist jihadists,” Lawal said.
“We will defend ourselves and will not fold our hands while foreigners invade our lands, kidnapping, raping, pillaging and killing at will. Whatever criminalities bandits, jihadists and terrorists have perpetrated in the North should remain in the North, because we Yoruba people will not tolerate such in our homelands.
“Nigerians wonder why the authorities continue to pamper these hoodlums. Why are agencies not arresting anyone found roaming with AK-47 assault rifles? Instead, the security agencies that are supposed to defend the lives and assets of our people choose to go after those who muster the courage to defend themselves.
“We will not seek or wait for permission from anyone to defend ourselves with everything at our disposal. As we have done in the past, the OPC shall do everything to defend our land and people.”
The group urged the Nigeria Police, other security agencies and the Armed Forces to be proactive rather than reactionary in tackling non-state actors troubling the country.
According to the OPC, the heightened insecurity appeared to be a ploy deliberately targeted at undermining the government of President Bola Tinubu.