States in the South-West region are strategising in response to the reported influx of bandits and fighters from the Islamic State’s West Africa Province into some of the region’s forests.
The PUNCH reported that Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, warned last week that bandits fleeing military operations in the North-West were seeking refuge in the state.
Raising the concern at the 2025 annual inter-faith service for workers held at the Secretariat, Agodi, Ibadan, Makinde said, “During a security briefing this morning, I learnt that some bad elements from the North-West are relocating here due to military heat in their zones. But we will find and deal with them.”
The Ogun State government also said it had contacted relevant security agencies, including the military and the police.
The Department of State Services recently arrested 10 suspected members of ISWAP in Ilesa, Osun State.
The arrest came to public knowledge when the DSS sought an order of a Federal High Court in Abuja to detain the suspects for 60 days, an order Justice Emeka Nwite granted last week Friday.
In the same vein, the Oodua People’s Congress urged all the six governors of the South-West to treat as a security emergency the building of camps inside Yoruba land forests by insurgents and terrorists fleeing the North, as it offered to help security agencies tackle the menace.
Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, noted that he is consulting with his counterparts in Oyo, Osun, Ogun, Ondo and Ekiti states.
His Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Gboyega Akosile, said the governor, who is also the chairman of the South-West Governors’ Forum, receives daily intelligence on the state of security in the region.
Akosile said the governor was prepared to handle security matters in the region, adding that he was well briefed on the issue.
“There is no empirical evidence that there are bandits in the South-West but on matters of security, you can never be over-prepared.
“The governor is receiving intelligence reports on different matters and he is in consultation with other governors from the South-West on how best to tackle the growing concern over security issues in the region,” Akosile told our correspondent in an interview.
“If you recall the inaugural meeting of the South-West Governors Forum, one of the major topics raised at the meeting was the security of the region, so they’ve been meeting on some of the ways to checkmate insecurity in the South-West.”
