The pan-Yoruba socio-political organization, Afenifere, has expressed deep concern over the rising wave of kidnappings and terror attacks across Yorubaland and other regions of the country, calling for an urgent modification to the posting of National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members.

In a press statement issued by the organization’s National Publicity Secretary, Comrade Jare Ajayi, the group noted that the daily occurrence of violent attacks, abductions, and community raids has become highly disturbing.

“Before now, reports of incidents of this nature used to be from other climes. But these days, the horrendous incidents are also occurring in Yorubaland of Oyo, Ogun, Ekiti, Ondo, Kwara, and parts of Kogi,” Ajayi stated, highlighting recent incidents in the region, including the abduction of two workers from the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) along the Ibadan-Ijebu-Ode Road.

Citing the vulnerability of young graduates traveling to orientation camps across volatile highways, Afenifere reiterated its 2021 call for the federal government to mandate that youth corps members serve in their respective states of residence or origin.

Ajayi observed that armed convoys on motorbikes have frequently carried out these atrocities, questioning how such large-scale movements manage to bypass the security apparatus without interception. He alleged that there might be complicity among unscrupulous elements within the security services and prominent figures in society.

To address the situation, Afenifere urged South-West governors to immediately recruit more personnel and strengthen the Amotekun corps to secure local forests, while demanding that authorities beam a searchlight on illegal mining sites often used as staging grounds by criminals. The organization also called for the acceleration of state police creation and an end to granting amnesty to so-called repentant bandits.