A group of over 500 women organisations, activists, advocates, and practitioners, under the auspices of Womanifesto, has condemned the wave of insecurity in Nigeria.
The convener, Dr Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi, reiterated that the safety of Nigerians should be top priority of government.The Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED) revealed that over 380 persons were kidnapped between December 1, 2023, and January 3, 2024.
Akiyode-Afolabi noted that amid this crisis, Womanifesto finds it unimaginable that the National Assembly extended its holiday after a three-week Christmas and New Year recess.
“This action, we believe, reeks of nonchalance and lack of empathy by those elected to represent the interest of Nigerians. This action is grossly unacceptable to us. We demand that the National Assembly calls off this recess and resumes plenary immediately,” she stated.
IN a related development, Pan-Yoruba socio-cultural and political organisation, Afenifere, has deplored the kidnappings across the federation, urging President Bola Tinubu to urgently convene a stakeholders’ meeting to tackle the menace.
Its National Publicity Secretary, Jare Ajayi, in a statement in Ibadan, said: “Tenor of the phenomenon suggests that insiders have a hand in it. By insiders, we mean people, who have a relationship one way or the other with kidnap victims.
“In other words, masterminds of this dastardly act or their collaborators could be family members, business associates or those with whom the victim has a social relationship. Some security experts have also suggested that some unscrupulous security personnel might be involved, as attested to by a former General Officer Commanding (GOC), 1 Mechanised Division (Kaduna) of the Nigerian Army, Major General Ali-Keffi, in his recent letter to President Bola Tinubu.
“Information has it that perpetrators of this heinous act have informants, who had or have something to do with the victims. A point that was also made by Nyesom Wike, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory last week. But situations do occur where terrorists (in fake security uniforms) ambush travellers on highways such as the ones that happened on Lagos-Ibadan expressway, Abuja-Kaduna highway, Ikere-Iju-Iwaraja routes in Ekiti State and so on and so forth.”
