Once upon a time, Kwara State was described as one of the country’s most peaceful havens. Today, that description has become a shadow of itself. The state has been thrown into the furnace of banditry, with attacks that are turning thriving communities into ghost towns. From Oke-Ode to Babanla, from Agbonran to Patigi, the story is the same — blood on the ground, tears on the faces of families, and fear spreading like wildfire.
In Oke-Ode, the blood of 12 vigilantes and a respected community leader has barely dried when another community was thrown into mourning. In Babanla, five lives were wasted in broad daylight, including a gallant police officer. In Agbonran, gunmen had the audacity to kill a police orderly and abduct three officers. In Patigi, a party ward chairman, his son, and an innocent villager were cut down, while a 12-year-old girl was snatched into the forest. And as if that was not enough, six more lives were wasted in Edu in a shootout between vigilantes and bandits. This is not just a tragedy, it is an unravelling disaster.
The question that begs for an answer is simple: where is the government in all this? Nigerians did not elect scarecrows to watch over them. A government that cannot protect its citizens is like a farmer who plants yams but refuses to weed the farm — the harvest will be nothing but sorrow.
Every life lost in Kwara is a direct indictment of leadership. The constitution is clear that the protection of lives and property is the primary responsibility of government. Yet, communities are being ravaged by armed criminals while those in power mouth empty promises. To say that the government is docile is to be charitable. What we are witnessing is inertia, a lack of urgency that emboldens criminals and erodes public confidence.
It is not enough for the governor to call for more security deployments. Nigerians have heard such calls ad nauseam. The people are tired of press statements, condolence visits, and talk of “boosting military response.” Bandits are not defeated by grammar, they are defeated by strategy, intelligence, and decisive action.
How did things get this bad? How did Kwara, once a model of peace, become a killing field? The bitter truth is that for too long, security challenges have been treated with kid gloves. Banditry was once seen as a “northern problem,” something happening far away. Now, the fire has crossed boundaries, consuming communities in the middle belt. When a fire starts in the neighbour’s hut and you fold your hands, do not be surprised when the flames lick your own walls.
What is happening in Kwara is not just a local issue, it is a national alarm bell. Families are fleeing their homes, children are being carried into captivity, and communities are being emptied. In effect, Nigerians are becoming refugees in their own country. This is happening under the watch of a government that claims to be in charge. If this is not a failure of governance, then what is?
We must say it as it is: Nigeria cannot continue to dance around this problem. Security architecture must be overhauled from the ground up. State governments must stop behaving like helpless tenants and start acting like leaders with responsibility. Vigilantes cannot continue to be sent to battle with dane guns against AK-47 wielding terrorists. That is nothing short of sending lambs into the lion’s den.
The federal government, on its part, cannot keep pretending that “directives” from Abuja will end the menace. The relocation of generals to Kwara is good optics, but Nigerians want results, not photo-ops. Soldiers on the ground need better intelligence, better equipment, and above all, the political will from leaders to crush these criminals. A government that cannot keep its people safe is sitting on a time bomb that could explode at any moment.
It is often said that “a stitch in time saves nine.” Insecurity is one area where delayed action costs lives. Each day the government hesitates, the bandits grow bolder, the people lose faith, and the nation bleeds. If Kwara is allowed to slide further into chaos, it will not be long before neighbouring states are engulfed. That is how wildfire spreads.
The ordinary people of Kwara deserve more than lip service. They deserve the right to sleep with both eyes closed, to farm their land without fear, to send their children to school without worrying about abduction. This is not asking for too much. This is the minimum duty of governance.
The time has come for leaders to stop treating insecurity as an inconvenient headline and start treating it as the existential threat that it is. Kwara is crying, and Nigeria must listen. To fold our arms while bandits feast on human lives is to allow darkness to swallow the land.
If Nigeria fails to rise to this challenge, history will not be kind. Posterity will remember that when the state became a graveyard, when children were turned into orphans, when villages were emptied, there was a government in place, but that government chose to look the other way. And nothing could be more damning than that.
Stanley Ugagbe can be reached via stanleyakomeno@gmail.com
