The pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, has warned against violence ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Rising from its meeting held at the residence of its leader, Chief Reuben Fasoranti, in Akure, the Ondo State capital, on Wednesday, the organisation called on all political actors to embrace peace and conduct their electioneering campaigns with decorum.
In a communiqué issued at the end of the meeting and signed by the National Publicity Secretary of the group, Mr Jare Ajayi, the organisation stressed the need for politicians to play politics without violence.
The communiqué reads: “The meeting reviewed what is going on in the political terrain as we approach the 2027 general elections. Afenifere then called on politicians and political players to go about their electioneering processes in a peaceful manner. Electioneering should be devoid of violence, thuggery, and character assassination.
“The meeting, for the umpteenth time, expressed concern over the security situation in the country. Serious concern was expressed on the increasing terror acts in Yorubaland.
“It called on Governors of the six states in the South West to take more decisive actions on insecurity that seems to be ravaging the land now. Part of the actions can be strengthening Amotekun, paying more attention to surveillance and expediting actions on the setting up of state police. These can be done in collaboration with governments of neighbouring states, especially Kwara, Kogi, Edo and Delta which also have sizeable Yoruba population.
“The meeting took note of the steps by the Federal Government under President Bola Tinubu on the security situation, including the meeting he held with security chiefs just on Monday.
“In the same vein, the meeting took note of the efforts of the military and other security agencies on security issues in the land. Afenifere commended the gallantry of our soldiers and commiserated with the Federal Government, the military and families of gallant soldiers who lost their lives or got wounded in the process of defending the nation.
“The body then recommended that: The military and other security agencies be further strengthened with more equipment, morale boosting, enhancement of kinetic and non-kinetic security measures.
“Government and security agencies, including the military, should look inward as insecurity continues to fester because there are internal collaborators. Such searchlight should be beamed on local communities as there are collaborators among them as well.
“By this we mean unscrupulous people who are collaborating with kidnappers, bandits and terrorists. Confessions by some of the suspects that have been made public attested to this line of thinking.
“Afenifere seized the opportunity to also commiserate with the people who have been victims of terrorism in Yorubaland and in other parts of Nigeria. The organisation is highly disturbed by this and called on all concerned not to waste any more time in doing all that is humanly possible to put an end to what now appears to be a genocidal agendum.
“The body reiterates its call on South West governors to put into practical action the resolutions they made on several security meetings they have held in recent times. There is the need for them to carry the governors of Kwara and Kogi States along for the sake of Yorubas and other residents in these states and also because of the stretches of forests linking the said states which bandits often use to carry out their dastardly acts.
“Restructuring has been a sing-song of Afenifere for a long time. The time has come to do something decisive on this. The body took note of the commitment of President Bola Tinubu to re-engineer Nigeria that everyone would be proud of. Afenifere is very much on the same page with Mr. President on this. We believe that restructuring will greatly assist and hasten the realisation of this noble objective hence our consistent advocacy for it,” the communiqué added.
Credit: The Sun