The pan-Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Afenifere, has said that the lingering security crisis in Nigeria, especially the kidnapping, may have the hands of some insiders.
Afenifere in a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Comrade Jare Ajayi, claimed that the tenor of the phenomenon “suggests that insiders have a hand in it”.
“By insiders, we mean people who have a relationship one way or the other with kidnap victims. In other words, the masterminds of this dastardly act, or their collaborators, could be family members, business associates or those with whom the victim has a social relationship.
“Some security experts have also suggested that some unscrupulous security personnel might be involved, as attested to by a former General Officer Commanding, GOC, 1 Mechanized Division, Kaduna of the Nigerian Army, Major General Ali-Keffi, in his recent letter to President Bola Tinubu.
“Information has it that perpetrators of these heinous acts have informants who had or have something to do with the victims.
“A point that was also made by Mr Nyesome Wike, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, last week.
“But situations do occur where terrorists (in fake security uniforms) ambush travellers on highways, such as the ones that happened on Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Abuja-Kaduna Highway, Ikere-Iju-Iwaraja Routes in Ekiti State and so on.
“Even where terrorists attack communities, such as the ones that took place in Benue, Plateau, Borno, Niger, Sokoto, Nasarawa states among others, such were carried out by those who are familiar with residents of the communities involved.
“Otherwise, it would not be easy for outsiders to know how to navigate the territory.”
The organisation however urged President Bola Tinubu, to urgently convene a community/stakeholders meeting to tackle the increasing insecurity in the country.
Citing the recent kidnap incidents in Otu, Saki and Okaka in the Oke-Ogun area of Oyo State, incessant abductions in the Federal Capital Territory, and sacking of communities in Niger State, Comrade Ajayi asserted that there were indications that some of these incidents had signatures of insiders as conspirators or collaborators if not masterminds.
