The pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation Afenifere has warned that a relentless wave of kidnappings and terror attacks is pushing communities in the South-West and parts of the North-Central to breaking point.

In a strongly worded statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Jare Ajayi, in Ibadan, the group lamented that incidents once associated with distant conflict zones have now become a grim daily reality in Yoruba-speaking states such as Oyo, Ogun, Ekiti, Ondo, Kwara and parts of Kogi.

Afenifere said it is equally alarmed by the sacking of communities, killings, livestock rustling, arson and maiming in Plateau, Benue, Niger, Nasarawa, Katsina, Borno, Bauchi, Kaduna and the Federal Capital Territory, describing the pattern as evidence of a deepening national security crisis.

Ajayi recalled that the organisation had for years warned that unchecked banditry would mutate into full-blown terrorism, with communities overrun and security formations directly attacked. He cited recent cases that have shaken residents: the kidnapping of a trader at Jinarere in Ibadan, the abduction of two Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company staff on the Ibadan–Ijebu-Ode Road, attacks on families in Ondo and Ekiti, the killing of farmers in Tede and Ago-Are, and the murder of military and police personnel in Tenibo and Kenanji in Kwara State.

He also listed raids on orphanages, churches, mosques, markets and private homes, saying the cumulative effect has been the desertion of palaces by some traditional rulers in Kwara who can no longer guarantee their safety.

Against this backdrop, Afenifere renewed its call for an urgent review of the National Youth Service Corps scheme, insisting that corps members should be allowed to serve in their states of origin or residence. The group referenced victims such as Sodiq Ogunlana, a Lagos State University graduate shot and abducted en route to camp in Osun, Lateefah, a Kwara Polytechnic graduate seized on her way to Taraba, and Gift David Samiya, abducted on the Akwanga–Jos road.

Ajayi argued that the persistence of motorcycle-borne attacks and the apparent ease with which armed convoys move undetected point to complicity within security agencies and among influential figures. He urged authorities to probe links between bandit violence and illegal mining, as well as allegations that aircraft have been used to supply arms and food to criminal groups.

Afenifere called for a stronger mix of kinetic and non-kinetic strategies, insisting that no Nigerian should live under the constant threat of abduction or extrajudicial killing.