Owo Attack: Insecurity Contrived To Make 2023 Election ‘Unfeasible’ – Afenifere

The pan Yoruba socio political organization, Afenifere, has condemned the fresh attack on Owo in Ondo State by some gunmen.

The National Publicity Secretary of Afenifere,Mr Jare Ajayi, who said this in a statement on Thursday said the insecurity situation in the country made it to appear like some government officials were collaborating with bandits and terrorists to unleash terror on Nigerians.

Afenifere said it was obvious that the current government was not sincere in its war against terrorism, while restating its call for creation of state police to address insecurity.

The group also criticised the President of the Senate, Senator Ahmed Lawan, for allegedly preventing senators from discussing the frightening insecurity in the country and the notice of impeachment which the lawmakers wanted to debate on Wednesday.

He said it was unfortunate that President Muhammdu Buhari was always unaware of the situation in the country.

The Afenifere spokesman said that
those around President Buhari are deceitful, saying the disclosures by two serving ministers after the Federal Executive Council meeting in Abuja on Wednesday proved his claims that they were deceitful.

It would be recalled that the Minister of Information, Lai Muhammed, described the threat by terrorists to kidnap President Buhari and Governor Nasir el-Rufai as laughable while his counterpart in the Ministry of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, said that Nigerian economy was doing very well, far better than under the previous administrations

“With all what had happened and several others, those in the corridors of power are dubbing those calling for effective action as wailers. Some of them, like the Senate President and Presidential spokespersons, seem to be of the view that if the matter is not talked about, it will fade away. But a thing of this type does not fade away in that manner.

“Rather, it would fester until it consumes virtually everybody including those who ought to act at the appropriate time but failed woefully to do so.

“In any case, we in Afenifere, do not take the threats by the kidnappers, bandits and terrorists lightly. What with another deadly attack that happened in Owo, Ondo State, on Wednesday, July 27th, barely seven weeks after the gruesome attack on St Francis Catholic Church in the same town. We in Afenifere, in strong terms, condemn this new attack as we did the previous time. It is seen as a provocation that can no longer be accepted.”

The group said the inability of the military to curb insecurity could not be blamed.on lack of funding because the budgetary allocation to the army , the air force and the navy had been on the increase since 2016.

“We are asking these questions because, among others, funding cannot be an excuse. For instance, the amount of money allocated to the three arms of the forces in 2016 and 2022 respectively are as follow:
The Army in 2016 was given N148 billion. In 2022, it was N579 billion. Navy in 2016 got 86b, in 2022, it was N148b. Airforce in 2016 got N91b while in 2022, it got 180b.

“In view of the lackadaisical manner government is handling security situation, in view of seeming collaboration between some within the government and the bandits and in view of the clear refusal of the President to marshall the desired political will to deal with the security situation, it is becoming difficult not to give some ears to those insinuating that all these things are geared towards making the forthcoming 2023 general election unfeasible,” Afenifere added.