By Ademola Adekusibe
25 January, 2026
In a strongly-worded statement issued on Saturday, the pan-Yoruba socio-political organization, Afenifere, has declared that a “powerful cabal” within Nigeria’s corridors of power is deliberately sabotaging efforts to end banditry, kidnapping, and terrorism. The group’s National Publicity Secretary, Comrade Jare Ajayi, asserted that these influential figures are the reason government strategies repeatedly fail, transforming insecurity from a northern crisis into a nationwide epidemic now devastating Yorubaland.
Ajayi stated that this sabotage is systemic, affecting not only security but also power, infrastructure, and the economy. He pointed to the unresolved murder of former Minister of Power, Chief Bola Ige, and the mysterious disappearance of funds allocated for refinery maintenance and road repairs as evidence of this entrenched “cabal.” He argued that despite the largest portion of the national budget being dedicated to security, the situation worsens because the funds are compromised and the strategy is undermined from within.
The Afenifere spokesman specifically accused some Northern leaders of complicity for framing attacks on bandits as attacks on their tribe and advocating for negotiation over prosecution. He also condemned state governors who pardon and reward terrorists, stating these actions have emboldened criminality. Ajayi directly linked the violence to a land-grabbing agenda, accusing “unscrupulous herders” and foreign mining interests of forcing communities off their ancestral land through killings, kidnappings, and the imposition of illegal levies.
To combat the crisis, Afenifere demanded urgent actions: the immediate operationalization of state police through a presidential order, a total restructuring of the security architecture, community-led intelligence, and a comprehensive program to de-radicalize indoctrinated youth. The group called for the sanitization of security agencies to purge saboteurs and weaken the destructive cabal, emphasizing that without these steps, the government’s commitments, like those recently reiterated by National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu, would remain unfulfilled.
