Ibadan – This year, the Children’s Day and the Eid Al-dha festival was celebrated on the same day.
While the former is used to promote the welfare of children, the latter (Festival of the sacrifice) is to honour the act of willingness of prophet Ibrahim who wanted to sacrifice his son in obedience to God’s command. But God is kind. He realized that children are not animals that should be slaughtered. Hence, animal was used to replace Ishmael who would have been slaughtered. God values children’s lives. Do we? How do we protect our children and show them that we are capable of protecting and nurturing them rightly? As I struggle with the answers to these questions, I remembered the 46 children and seven teachers of Ahoro-Esiele/Yawota in Oriire local government area of Oyo state on 16 May 2026. They had planned their day to learn but were captured and coerced into the forests. The agrarian community went into confusion as automatic rifles bellowed into their hearing. A teacher who tried to escape was shot dead. The ‘Okada’ owner who would not trade his means of survival with the terrorists was not spared for daring to challenge the jihadists. The terrorists came prepared and must have been lurking around the community for a while. As combined forces trailed the marauders, they sacrificed the mathematics teacher, Michael Oyedokun in the most gruesome way designed to halt their chase and forced captives to do videos where they pleaded with the government to jettison kinetic approach but embrace non-kinetic negotiation strategy so that they could make it out of the forest alive.
The 2026 global terrorism index explains the gravity of what battles us. According to the data, the Islamic State (IS) and its affiliates remained the deadliest terrorist organisations in 2025. The four deadliest terrorist organisations were IS, Jamaat Nusrat Al-Islam wal Muslimeen (JNIM), Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), and al-Shabaab. All of them accounted for 70percent (3,869) of terrorism fatalities. Under 70 per cent of deaths from terrorism occurred in only five countries: Pakistan, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Niger, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Six of the ten countries most impacted by terrorism are in sub-Saharan Africa which is now the epicenter of terrorism. Nigeria recorded the largest increase in 2025. Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) and Boko Haram were responsible for 80 per cent of all terrorism deaths in the country. To show the magnitude of those who attacked us, the Defence Headquarters linked them to the Bokoharam JAS. They are not ordinary criminals. Why did army forces conduct aerial bombardments without adequate ground clearance operation? A well-coordinated ground clearance operation would have ensured that those fleeing bombardments in the north would have been killed and not allowed free mobility elsewhere. Unfortunately, these terrorists had enough time to move with their armory.
The mobility of terror to the southwest region is a test-transmission by terror groups. The first attack was at Owo massacre on June 5 at St. Francis Catholic Church, Ondo State. It was during the celebration of the Pentecost when they struck. By the time they finished, no fewer than 40 people were massacred while many were injured. Those arrested in connection with the massacre are still awaiting judgment five years after. Ondo state government stood up to the challenge under the leadership of late Governor Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN). Amotekun and their collaborators went into the forests and ordered illegal occupants out. They arrested and chased others away. But criminals only retreated. They went back to relaunch. They created terror routes through the northcentral axis, killing, abducting and sacking communities in Kwara state. As people desert communities, terrorists occupy them and push further in their expansionist agenda. The border community to that axis is Oriire Local Government, Ogbomoso in Esinele community. The terrorists are mapping vulnerable communities!
Certainly, all is not well with the land governed by the Jagaban of Borgu, President Bola Tinubu. Nigerians are held captive by their leaders(dealers) and this includes those who reportedly invited terror groups into the country. Corrupt leaders ‘kidnap’ collective resources that could have been used to develop health, education and power infrastructures. Billions of naira are stolen in a land where youths remain largely unemployed. Poverty envelopes the land and disillusionment cover the faces of the masses. The economy grows on paper but not manifesting in their lives. Governments abandon the rural areas. Terrorists see rural communities as under-protected and vulnerable. They ‘feast’ on them.
Governor Seyi Makinde deserves commendation for prompt mobilization of inter-agency forces. Kudos to our gallant security men who have encircled the terrorists. The captives are now used as human shield. This has slowed down rescue operations even as the terrorists have opened communication with government to negotiate.
We need to understand how they operate to be able to prepare prevention and containment strategies. Studies have shown that terrorists and bandits attacks take place early in the morning or late in the night and in remote and isolated places. These are times of the day when people have lowered their guard. President Bola Tinubu must demonstrate political willingness to fully wipe out ‘jihadists’ and halt their expansion. The armed forces have said that they have the capacity to end terrorism. Government should allow them to work. No economy can grow when there is insecurity. No tourist will visit a country that allows dozens of her people to be captured, tortured, killed and forced to rescue themselves with ransom in a country with governments. The lives of Nigerians must matter and must not be traded on the altar of politics.
At the regional level, the nature of threat is changing and calls for review of strategies. The people of the southwest expect a coordinated response from their governors, supported by the federal government. Southwest Governors must collaborate, cooperate and coordinate security operations due to geographical contiguity. They must fund sustained clearance operations of southwest forests to destroy criminal occupants and their hideouts, and fish out their collaborators in our communities. Communities must be trained to detect, collect, process and communicate intelligence information. Traditional rulers need to activate their community watch, conduct threat analysis and monitor suspicious movement around their domains. Market men and women should be able to sense dangers when strangers or a community member make exceptionally high purchase of food items. We must not allow terrorists to work with criminals who live among us. They cannot settle down in our region once we break their supply routes.
Fear is necessary but will not solve our problems. We need to help security agencies to secure and protect us. We should stop attending church or mosque programs in remote locations and on isolated mountains. Stop vigils and don’t put your lives at risk. Heaven helps those who help themselves. We must also avoid unnecessary gatherings in isolated and remote locations. Commuters should avoid late night journey as much as possible. Employing those who ran away from terror zones because they offer cheap labour could be very dangerous at this time. Don’t employ them in your neighbourhood without security screening and clearance. Our Governors must coordinate the activities of all informal security organisations in the zone – hunters, vigilante, Oodua people’s congress, Agbekoya among others. We must invest in security technology. Activities of estate merchants should be regulated so as not to sell lands to criminal organisations. When people arrive from an unknown place to rent an apartment, we should do due diligence, particularly in rural communities. Mining sites are locations of security breaches and they must be under serious surveillance. We must not allow terror groups to displace our population and start extortion economy in the southwest. The security of the zone is a collective one. If individuals are safe, the communities are safe. If the communities are safe, the states are safe. If the states are safe, the region is secured. A stitch in time saves nine.
Professor Tade, a Criminologist writes via [email protected]
