Oyo-Insecurity: Billions in Security Votes, Yet Oyo Bleeds - The Questions Governor Makinde Must Answer
Oyo-Insecurity: Billions in Security Votes, Yet Oyo Bleeds - The Questions Governor Makinde Must Answer
By || Dahood Kolawole Mandela
In June 2020, I wrote an article titled "Seyi Makinde and the Waste of Security Vote in Oyo." At that time, many dismissed the concerns as political criticism, while others considered them exaggerated alarms. Yet six years later, the frightening realities unfolding across Oyo State appear to have transformed those warnings into an unfortunate prophecy. Today, communities that once slept with their doors open now live in fear. Farmers abandon their farmlands. Travellers move with apprehension. Parents send their children to school with uncertainty in their hearts. The recent abductions in Ogbomoso and Oriire Local Government have once again revealed that insecurity has graduated from an occasional threat into a recurring nightmare.
The tragedy in Oriire is particularly painful because it involved innocent schoolchildren, teachers and community members whose only offence was pursuing education and daily survival. Reports of armed men storming communities and educational institutions, abducting pupils and teachers while leaving behind sorrow, confusion and bloodshed, should ordinarily provoke immediate and overwhelming governmental action. Instead, what the public has largely witnessed is a disturbing mixture of official assurances, prolonged waiting and growing frustration among families whose loved ones remain in captivity. Every passing day deepens the agony of parents who do not know whether their children have eaten, slept safely or remain alive in the forests.
Security vote was never designed to be a ceremonial budgetary allocation. It was conceived as an emergency financial instrument to strengthen intelligence gathering, support rapid response operations, improve surveillance and ensure that governors possess sufficient resources to confront security emergencies before they escalate. The critical question many Oyo citizens are asking today is simple: if enormous sums continue to be allocated under security votes and related security expenditures, why are kidnappers becoming bolder, attacks becoming more organised and communities becoming increasingly vulnerable? What measurable security architecture has been built with these resources? Where are the visible results? Where is the deterrence that should make criminals fear the state rather than the state appearing helpless before criminals?
The situation becomes even more troubling when viewed against the backdrop of repeated warnings from security analysts, community leaders and concerned citizens over the years. Rural communities across Oke-Ogun, Ibarapa, Ogbomoso and several border settlements have consistently raised alarms about criminal infiltration, forest hideouts and growing kidnapping networks. Yet government responses have too often appeared reactive rather than preventive. Insecurity does not emerge overnight; it grows gradually in the fertile soil of neglect, weak intelligence and inadequate enforcement.
The events unfolding today suggest that the warning signs were either underestimated or ignored until they matured into full-scale crises.
What is perhaps most heartbreaking is the emotional abandonment being felt by affected communities. When citizens begin to openly discuss self-help, vigilante retaliation and community defence as alternatives to government protection, it signals a dangerous erosion of confidence in state institutions. Recent appeals by concerned leaders warning against allowing residents to resort to self-help are not merely political statements; they are indicators of growing public despair. A society where citizens lose faith in official security structures stands dangerously close to lawlessness.
No governor inherits a perfect security environment. Criminality is a national challenge confronting nearly every state in Nigeria. However, leadership is ultimately measured not by the existence of problems but by the urgency, creativity and effectiveness of responses to those problems. Oyo people are not demanding miracles. They are demanding protection. They are demanding accountability. They are demanding visible action equal to the magnitude of the fear they live with daily. They are demanding that government demonstrate that security votes are producing security and not merely figures on paper.
The tears of mothers in Oriire, the anguish of families in Ogbomoso and the anxiety spreading across communities should awaken every conscience within government. The rescue of the abducted victims must become an immediate priority pursued with every available resource and every necessary collaboration. Beyond rescue efforts, Oyo State must urgently reassess its security strategy, strengthen intelligence networks, fortify vulnerable schools and rural communities, improve coordination with federal security agencies and ensure that public funds allocated for security translate into visible protection for citizens.
History has a cruel way of vindicating ignored warnings. Six years ago, concerns were raised about the management and effectiveness of security expenditures in Oyo State. Today, the echoes of those warnings reverberate through the forests of Oriire, the streets of Ogbomoso and the frightened hearts of countless families. The question is no longer whether the warning was valid. The question now is whether government will finally act before another tragedy emerges to confirm yet another prophecy.Oyo State.
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By || Dahood Kolawole Mandela
For all your legal enquiries and issues, contact Barrister Dahood Kolawole on 08053666635.
Oyo: Felix Peter.
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