In a statement issued on Friday, Afenifere’s National Publicity Secretary, Jare Ajayi, warned that the violence risks spreading southward if not urgently addressed.

Ajayi highlighted a pattern of incursions by armed terrorists, who have been raiding villages, killing residents, and displacing families in border areas between Kwara and Kogi. 

He cited recent assaults in communities such as Kulori in Kwara’s Baruten Local Government Area and Egbe in Kogi’s Yagba West Local Government Area, where gunmen on motorcycles stormed homes, looted property, and set structures ablaze. 

“These attacks are not random; they are strategic probes by terrorists seeking to expand their territories and establish new fronts for kidnapping and extortion,” Ajayi stated.

According to Afenifere, the root causes include porous borders, inadequate intelligence sharing among security forces, and the proliferation of small arms from conflict zones in the northeast. 

The group accused some herder groups of colluding with bandits, exacerbating ethnic tensions and facilitating the influx of fighters into Yoruba-inhabited areas. 

“The terrorists are emboldened by the lack of consequences; they operate with impunity, knowing reinforcements arrive too late,” Ajayi added, referencing a September 28 attack in Kwara that left five dead and dozens abducted.

Afenifere called on President Bola Tinubu to deploy specialized task forces to the affected regions and urged governors AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara and Yahaya Bello of Kogi to enhance local vigilance committees. 

The organization also demanded federal intervention to fortify border controls and investigate alleged complicity by security personnel. 

“If this menace is not nipped in the bud, it will consume the entire Middle Belt and beyond, threatening national unity,” the statement concluded.

Local residents coroborated Afenifere’s concerns, with community leaders in Egbe reporting increased night patrols by vigilantes amid fears of further raids.