By Yemisi Bamgbose
Months ago, I wrote South West States and the Danger in Longe’s Farm. Let me remind you:
**“Longe is making heaps on a cobra.
Every tree in Longe’s farm hides dangerous insects.
The madman behind Longe is pointing an AK-47 at his head.”**
I was screaming about terrorists testing our gates through Kwara. Did our leaders listen? No.
Maybe Jesus was talking about them: “Their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed…” Matthew 13:15.
We warned. Others warned. But if it doesn’t win votes, our politicians trash it.
WELL, THE HEAT IS HERE NOW.
This is what the North waited for — for us to choke on the same smoke they’ve inhaled for years. The smoke nobody could put out. We felt it was too far to come close.
Owo was the test run. 40+ dead in church. Our leaders? They sent condolences, posted photos, and ran back to their guarded mansions. They thought Owo was “one-off.”
Oriire, Oyo State just proved them wrong. Gunmen. Schools. Communities emptied overnight. The madman in Longe’s farm has fired. People are running.
THEY’RE COMING FOR OUR SCHOOLS
Education is the South West’s oil. And they know it.
Kill our schools, you kill our future. That’s the plan.
THEY’RE STEALING OUR CHILDREN AND DEMORALISING OUR TEACHERS
Yoruba say: A missing child hurts worse than a dead one.
Ask the mothers in Oriire. Ask the fathers who haven’t slept since their kids were dragged into the bush. Ask husbands whose wives are in captivity of the daredevil. Somebody’s husband’s head was chopped off and the society is calm.
This is not blame. This is an alarm. Stop the lamentations. Lamentations is not the only book in the Bible.
MOTORCYCLES = THEIR WAR HORSES
Check the pattern:
Kankara, 2020 – Gunmen on bikes. 300+ boys gone.
Tegina, 2021 – Gunmen on bikes. 150 kids taken.
Kaduna, Kebbi – Same bikes. Same tears.
We know their playbook. Yet South West governors are still sleeping. Where is the crackdown?
WE FED THE MONSTER OURSELVES
Politicians “empowered” youths with okada instead of jobs. Now, okada boys are an army we can’t control.
Makinde banned okada partially in Oyo. Good start. But why wait for blood before acting?
Ogun is worse – thousands of bikes, no plate numbers, no tracking. Moving freely.
BAD ROADS = BANDIT HIGHWAYS
Why does okada own the villages? Because governors killed local governments. No roads. No access. So, bike rules.
Some governors are tarring their own expressway to prison by stealing LGA funds against Supreme Court orders.
Fix the roads, you choke okada. Leave them, and bandits will keep using them as Uber to kidnap your children.
CALL THE GENERALS HOME
Ogun alone has retired Army Generals, Police IG,DIG, AIGs, and DSS Directors. Ditto each State in the zone. Why are they sidelined?
Convene a 48-hour South West Security Summit NOW. Traditional rulers, Baales, civil society, tech guys. Lock the doors until there’s a plan.
USE CAMERAS, NOT JUST PRAYERS
I saw it in Kano years ago: Live camera feeds from deep forests, right in the Governor’s office. Maybe that’s why Kano is quieter.
We have sons and daughters building AI in London, drones in Texas, satellites in Canada. Bring them in. Let tech hunt these bandits before they hunt us.
South West Governors: The window is not just closing. It’s slamming shut.
Act now, or explain to the next Oriire mother why her child is gone.
Share if you’re tired of condolence tweets. We need action.