ISWAP influx: Southern govs activate regional security to curtail terrorism

Recall that Governor, Seyi Makinde of Oyo State recently raised the alarm that bandits fleeing military onslaught in the North-West are coming down to Oyo for refuge.

Speaking at the 2025 annual inter-faith service for workers held at the Secretariat, Agodi, Ibadan, Makinde, however, assured residents of his government’s determined effort to smoke out the bandits and eliminate them.

Makinde noted that the ongoing military operations in the North-West, including aerial bombardments of bandit hideouts, had forced many criminals to seek refuge in other states, including Oyo.

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Meanwhile, in the light of the unfolding drift of ISWAP members from the North to the South, the Southern Governors said they are strengthening different regional security arrangements.

He said they will serve as sources of local intelligence-gathering mechanisms for formal security agencies and provide occasional operational assistance.

Governor Abiodun, who spoke through his Special Adviser on Media and Strategy, Mr Kayode Akinmade, said: “The principles and strategies recommended for the collective good of the South include protection of lives and property, prevention of crime, community policing, economic development, enforcement of human rights, intelligence gathering, and fostering understanding among security agencies, government departments, and stakeholders to achieve a unified security approach.

“Governor Dapo Abiodun is convinced that security is a shared responsibility of both the federal and the state governments.

“This attitude explains why, from the inception of his administration, he has been funding both the state and federal security agencies in the state in a manner that is unprecedented since the creation of the state, and this is the exact ideology he has brought to bear as the Chairman of Southern Governors’ Forum, mobilising his colleagues for regular funding of the security apparatus in their respective states.

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