By Lateeed Adegbite
For much of Last year and now, there have been rumours making the rounds that the Bandits Group, and their Ansaru, terrorist Collaborators, a breakaway terrorists Group of the Islamic Fundamentalist Group, BokoHaram and the Islamic State Of West African Province, ISWAP, operating in the north west states of Zamfara, Sokoto, Kaduna, Katsina and the north central state of Niger, have infiltrated southern Nieria but it was said to have been dismissed in security circles.
Last January, the Bandits, had made a bold Statement when they attacked Okeluse Community in Ose Council Area of Ondo, home state of Olu Falae, a one- time secretary to the government, during General, rtd, Ibrahim Babangida’s Administration, and killed two people. The attack on the Community had come after five persons were slaughtered at Arimogija community in the same Ose Council Area. The kill and go bandits may have expected members of the Amethakun, the Yorba security Local security guard, to take up arms and hunt for them in the forest to turn the state to another Zamfara or Kaduna but were disappointed.
They may have expected members of the Amotekun to carry out a reprisal attack to encourage President Muhammadu Buhari and Commander –In-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces to order Lt. General Farouk Yayaha, the Chief of Army Staff to deploy his troops to the troublesome Area in the state and for Air Marshal Olayinka Amao, the Chief of Air Staff, to deploy Air force personnel and jet fighters to compliment the ground troops to restore peace in the state.
The Bandits may have discovered that the security situation in the south was not as strong as it is in the north that they had attacked St Francis Catholic Church worship centre in Owo, in the Falae home state on Sunday, June 5, 2022. The attack on the Owo Catholic church, had come barely a week after the prelate of the Methodist Church of Nigeria, Bishop Samuel Kanu-Uche was kidnapped in Abia state, by suspected gunmen but was released after the Church had raised a N100 million ransom, The Clergyman had told Nigerians that those who had kidnapped were Fulani Youths but were not really Nigerians, meaning that they were from other countries in the SAHEL region.
An Eyewitness account had said that the Bandits who had attacked the Owo Catholic Church , had arrived at the premises which is less than 200 metres from the Palace of the Olowo of Owo, by noon, when the Sunday mass was being rounded off. This is an indication that they have carried out a close surveillance of the Church for much of the week to know their escape route to the forest after launching the attack.
There have been conflicting about the number of people killed. The Federal Medical centre and St. Louis Hospital, both in Owo had said that 35 dead worships, put together were brought to their Hospitals. Reuters and BBC, had reported that no fewer than 50 worshippers were killed by the mindless Bandits. The gunmen were said to have used Improvised Explosive Device, IED, to scare the worshippers who ran helter-skelter before shooting sporadically, hitting at the soft targets.
Ideed, the Bandits Group and the Ansaru terrorists which may have introduced a culture of violence to the south by attacking the church which was more pronounced in the north east states of Borno ,Yobe and the north western states of Kaduna and the north central state of Niger , appear worrisome to the the Leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN. It has also sent a message to the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, which holds monthly Holy Ghost service, for it to tighten up security to avoid giving room to the Bandits to penetrate the Camp.
Recall that Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, a former governor of Lagos state and a frontline Presidential Candidate of the APC, Peter Obi, a former governor of Anambra state and Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party and Atiku Abubakar, a former Nigerian Vice President and PDP, President Candidate, for the 2023, general elections, had condemned the Bandits attack of the Owo Catholic Church attack by alleged Bandits, resulting in the death of scores of worshippers in the town. The trio, were said to have called on the Nigerian President and the security agencies Chief to endeavor ‘’to get to the root of the matter and ensure that the perpetrators of the Owo attack were brought to Justice.
The Leadership pf Afenifere, the Pan-Yoruba Socio-political Organisation, had joined other Nigerians to condemn the Attack on the Owo Catholic Church by suspected Bandits, accusing the Federal government of ‘’monopolising the country’s security architecture’’. Sola Ebiseni, the Secretary General, of the Yoruba Socio-Political Organisation had sent a message to’’ the Bandits that the attack on the St Francis Catholic Church was a deliberate show at testing the self defence strength of the Yoruba people in resisting the importation of the horrible culture of violence into the region’’.
He noted that ‘’despite the government monopoly of the country’s security architecture, it has proven most helpless and irresponsible in securing life and property, an irrefutable sign of the failure of the Nigerian state’’
Signs that the Bandits had entered Ondo state emerged in 2019, at the height of the Banditry in the north when the Bandits masquerading as herdsmen kidnapped, shot and killed Funke Olakunrin , the second daughter of Reuben Fasoranti, an Afenifere Leader.. She was said to have been kidnapped btween Kajola and Ore, along Ondo- Ore road. The Bandits were said to have emerged from the bush.
The Opposition People’s Democratic Party, PDP, has asserted that the alleged silence of the APC, on the Sunday, June 5, 2022, attack and killing of scores of worshippers at the St. Francis Catholic Church, Owo, in an APC, controlled state, clearly confirms ‘’ the party complicity and implicit support for terrorism in Nigeria’’.
Debo Ologunagba, the PDP, spokesperson had said that ‘’Buhari’s personal silence is deafening and points to allegations in the public space that terrorists are enjoying tacit accommodation from the highest level of the APC , Administration’’. He had said that the Nigerian President failure to give his promise to lead the fight against the bandits and terrorists from the front may have continued to embolden them to carry out more terrible tacks in different parts of the country, with little or no resistance from the people.
Many believe that if the attack on Owo town, had occurred in Imo or any other state in the south east, the Presidency may have linked it up to the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB and the Eastern Security Network, ESN, the security agencies and Department of State Service, DSS, people would be sent after them. For now, no Organisation had claimed responsibility for the Owo Catholic Church attack. Nigerians are waiting to hear from the Presidnecy to know the Group that may have attacked the Owo Churcj .
