By Comrade Kunle Sodipo FICSSM, MNINM, ANIPR
_May 25, 2026_
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_“Affliction shall not rise up the second time.”_ – Nahum 1:9
For too long, the Southwest has buried its farmers in shallow graves, pulled its students from kidnappers’ dens, and watched its highways become corridors of fear. We called it “insecurity.” The truth is simpler: we allowed affliction to rise once. If we allow it to rise again, we will have no one to blame but ourselves.
That is why the reported approval of *Iru Ekun* – Chief Sunday Adeyemo’s newly formed security outfit to support the Federal Government’s fight against kidnapping in the Southwest – cannot be dismissed as politics, ego, or noise. It is a test. A test of whether Yoruba leaders and elders have learned anything from the last 5 years of blood.
1. The Affliction We Already Endured
We know what happened when the state was slow and the people were left to self-defend without coordination:
– Farmers abandoned ancestral lands in Ibarapa, Oke-Ogun, and parts of Ekiti and Ondo because the forests became safer for kidnappers than for cows.
– School children were abducted from their dormitories, and parents chose silence over protest out of fear.
– Traders paid “passage fees” on roads that were built with their taxes.
– Traditional rulers were targeted, beaten, and in some cases killed, sending a message that no one was untouchable.
That was the first rising of affliction. The cries are still in the ears of mothers in Oyo, fathers in Ogun, and obas in Ondo. To let it happen again would not be misfortune. It would be betrayal.
2. Why Iru Ekun Matters Now
No single layer of security can secure a region as vast and porous as the Southwest. The Nigeria Police, Army, and NSCDC are overstretched. They need local intelligence, local knowledge, and local speed.
Iru Ekun, if properly structured, offers three things the state alone cannot provide:
1. *Familiarity with terrain.* No outsider knows the bush paths, waterways, and flashpoints like the sons of the soil who grew up there.
2. *Speed of response.* When kidnappers strike, 48 hours of waiting for Abuja’s approval is a death sentence. Local outfits can act within hours.
3. *Cultural legitimacy.* When the people see their own standing guard, fear begins to shift from the victim to the criminal.
This is not about replacing the Federal Government. It is about supporting it, the way Amotekun was conceived, the way community policing was meant to work.
3. The Challenge to Yoruba Leaders and Elders
Here is where the burden falls on you, the obas, chiefs, political leaders, and elders of Yorubaland.
If you reject Iru Ekun out of politics, jealousy, or fear of losing control, you will be handing the forests back to the kidnappers.
If you support it in words but sabotage it in action, you will be guilty of the second rising of affliction.
Your job now is not to posture. It is to do three things:
*First, provide oversight, not obstruction.* Demand that Iru Ekun operates within the law, with clear command structures, accountability, and respect for human rights. A vigilante group without rules becomes another problem.
*Second, fund and integrate.* No security outfit survives on passion alone. Work with state governments to integrate Iru Ekun into the existing Amotekun and community policing architecture. Give them intelligence, logistics, and legal backing.
*Third, protect it from politicization.* If this becomes APC vs PDP, or Tinubu vs whoever, the Southwest loses. Kidnappers don’t ask for party cards before they strike.
4. The Cost of Failing This Test
Let’s be plain. If Iru Ekun is allowed to collapse under infighting, sabotage, or neglect, the message to kidnappers will be clear: _the Southwest is open again._
The next time a farmer is dragged from his farm, the next time a student is taken from a school, the next time an oba is attacked in his domain, the blood will not only be on the hands of the criminals. It will be on the hands of every elder who chose silence over action.
We cannot afford a second “never again.” Because the people are running out of “again.”
5. A Final Word to the Elders
Yoruba culture has always valued _iwa pele_ – gentle character – but never at the cost of _iwa ija_ – the courage to fight for your people.
Your fathers defended this land with bows and arrows when the state had no presence. Today, you have a chance to defend it with structure, coordination, and state support. Do not waste it.
Sunday Igboho’s name will fade. The government in Abuja will change. But the forests, the roads, and the children of Yorubaland will remain.
Ensure that when history writes this chapter, it says:
_When affliction rose the first time, Yoruba leaders hesitated. When it threatened to rise the second time, they stood, organized, and stopped it._
Iru Ekun is not a magic wand. But it is a chance. And in the Southwest today, chances are all we have left.
Let us not waste this one.
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