03/06/2026
Insecurity: Is politics driving South-West governors apart?
General Editor, Politics, Taiwo Adisa, examines the ominous silence among holders of political power in the South-West in the wake of bandits’ dastardly attack on Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State, the kidnapping of students and their teachers.
In recent years, three events have put to the test the level of unity and cohesion among governors of the South-West, especially under the aegis of the South-West Governors Forum.
The forum, once led by the late Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, was never shy of putting on display its ability to speak with one voice at critical junctures. One instance was during thJune 2019 killing of Mrs. Funke Olakunrin, daughter of Afenifere leader, Pa Reuben Fasoranti. The second was the processes leading to the establishment of Amotekun corps and then the attack on St. Francis Catholic Church, Owo, by bandits, killing parishioners and residents of the community. The governors scaled the three huddles, making the forum emerge smelling like roses before the people.
Mrs. Olakunrin, Pa Fasoranti’s daughter, was attacked and murdered by suspected bandits along the Benin-Ore Expressway on her way to Lagos. The governors of the region immediately pulled together despite the differences in political inclinations. Five of the governors attended the burial of Mrs. Olakunrin on June 22, 2019. They included Babajide Sanwo-Olu (Lagos), Dapo Abiodun (Ogun), Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti), Rotimi Akeredolu (Ondo), and Seyi Makinde (Oyo). The governors were quoted in the media as expressing readiness to tackle the incursion of banditry and insurgency into the region. Some observers have indicated that the incident was one of the propelling forces that gave fillip to the governors’ push for the establishment of the Western Nigeria Security Network, otherwise called Amotekun Corps, under the administration of the late President Muhammadu Buhari.
Perhaps owing to the political sophistication of the zone, all of the six states have not really come under one political tendency since the start of the Fourth Republic. One or two states would just be left out in the opposite camp. The Olusegun Obasanjo tsunami of 2003 swept five of the six states, leaving Lagos, while the resurgence of the progressives in the zone has also been unable to bring all the states under one umbrella. At a point, Ekiti State, under Governor Ayo Fayose, was the only one left on the ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), while the other states were ruled by the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), which transformed to the All Progressives Congress (APC). Oyo State joined Ekiti on the PDP flank in 2019, but Ekiti soon ported to the APC fold, and then Osun also left the progressives’ fold when Governor Gboyega Oyetola lost to Senator Ademola Adeleke of the PDP. Despite the undulating nature of political control in the zone, the governors under the South-West Governors’ Forum (SWGF) appeared focused on the goal of a united Oodua land.
Some analysts would say that the link provided by Oodua Group of Companies could be the source of the gravitational pull, while others have said that much of the united front is being championed by the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN) Commission, a semi-official body which acts as the think-tank for the South-West states. Whatever it was, the governors appeared to keep passing the huddles against a united region. So, aside from the test provided by the killing of Pa Fasoranti’s daughter, the attack on St. Francis Catholic Church, Owo, on June 5, 2022, was
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General Editor, Politics, Taiwo Adisa, examines the ominous silence among holders of political power in the South-West in the wake of bandits’ dastardly attack on Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State, the kidnapping of students and their teachers.
In recent years, three events have put to the test the level of unity and cohesion among governors of the South-West, especially under the aegis of the South-West Governors Forum. The forum, once led by the late Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, was never shy of putting on display its ability to speak with one voice at critical junctures. One instance was during the June 2019 killing of Mrs. Funke Olakunrin, daughter of Afenifere leader, Pa Reuben Fasoranti. The second was the processes leading to the establishment of Amotekun corps and then the attack on St. Francis Catholic Church, Owo, by bandits, killing parishioners and residents of the community. The governors scaled the three huddles, making the forum emerge smelling like roses before the people.
Mrs. Olakunrin, Pa Fasoranti’s daughter, was attacked and murdered by suspected bandits along the Benin-Ore Expressway on her way to Lagos. The governors of the region immediately pulled together despite the differences in political inclinations. Five of the governors attended the burial of Mrs. Olakunrin on June 22, 2019. They included Babajide Sanwo-Olu (Lagos), Dapo Abiodun (Ogun), Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti), Rotimi Akeredolu (Ondo), and Seyi Makinde (Oyo). The governors were quoted in the media as expressing readiness to tackle the incursion of banditry and insurgency into the region. Some observers have indicated that the incident was one of the propelling forces that gave fillip to the governors’ push for the establishment of the Western Nigeria Security Network, otherwise called Amotekun Corps, under the administration of the late President Muhammadu Buhari.
Perhaps owing to the political sophistication of the zone, all of the six states have not really come under one political tendency since the start of the Fourth Republic. One or two states would just be left out in the opposite camp. The Olusegun Obasanjo tsunami of 2003 swept five of the six states, leaving Lagos, while the resurgence of the progressives in the zone has also been unable to bring all the states under one umbrella. At a point, Ekiti State, under Governor Ayo Fayose, was the only one left on the ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), while the other states were ruled by the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), which transformed to the All Progressives Congress (APC). Oyo State joined Ekiti on the PDP flank in 2019, but Ekiti soon ported to the APC fold, and then Osun also left the progressives’ fold when Governor Gboyega Oyetola lost to Senator Ademola Adeleke of the PDP. Despite the undulating nature of political control in the zone, the governors under the South-West Governors’ Forum (SWGF) appeared focused on the goal of a united Oodua land.
Some analysts would say that the link provided by Oodua Group of Companies could be the source of the gravitational pull, while others have said that much of the united front is being championed by the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN) Commission, a semi-official body which acts as the think-tank for the South-West states. Whatever it was, the governors appeared to keep passing the huddles against a united region. So, aside from the test provided by the killing of Pa Fasoranti’s daughter, the attack on St. Francis Catholic Church, Owo, on June 5, 2022, was another test of the governors’ unity.
Members of the SWGF immediately visited Governor Akeredolu to commiserate with the people of Ondo State, while a virtual meeting was later held days after by the governors, who declared a three-day mourning period across the states. A communique of the meeting, which was later released by the late governor Akeredolu, indicated that the South-West states would observe the mourning period between June 13 and June 15, 2022, to symbolise the collective loss across all the South-Western states of the country.
The communique read in part: “The recent attack on St. Francis Catholic Church, Owaluwa Street, Owo, compels immediate intervention in the whole of the South-West to nip the insidious phenomenon of insurgency in the bud. The meeting subsequently took decisions, some of which are expected to have far-reaching implications in the quest to protect lives and property in the region.” During the three-day mourning period, flags were directed to fly at half mast in all public institutions across the zone in solidarity with the attack on the Owo Church by bandits who are still having their days in court. Though the Owo incident, coming a year after the inauguration of the South-West Security Network, Amotekun, was read by some analysts as a possible attack on Akeredolu’s immediate domain for his forceful approach in handling the affairs of the SWGF, the development did not occasion any break in transmission by the governors.
The governors had scaled another major test to their unity when they launched the Amotekun Corps on January 9, 2020, in Ibadan, Oyo State. That was, although the governor of Oyo State was (and is still) a member of the PDP. Having scaled such critical huddles as mentioned above, unfolding events, however, appear to be showcasing an SWGF that is growing wary or one divided along political lines. The forum, which is today under the leadership of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State, appears to be going soft and largely unheard, compared to the Akeredolu days.
On January 6, 2026, the Old Oyo National Park office located at the Oloka Village in Oriire local government of Oyo State was attacked by bandits, who killed some officials of the Forest Guards and forcefully released some herders who were said to have strayed into the park. The SWGF was not as loud about that event as it used to be, but the silence was felt the more when, on May 15, 2026, reports indicated that bandits had again attacked Oriire local government via the Old Oyo National Park; this time, they kidnapped 39 students and seven teachers. They showed a video of the dastardly decapitation of the Mathematics teacher, Michael Oyedokun, who was one of the kidnapped, after they had earlier killed a teacher in one of the schools attacked. The attack on Ahoro Esinele and Yawota villages has caught national attention, leading to condemnation and protests by teachers under the Nigerian Union of Teachers and civil society organisations. Despite the widespread condemnation of the banditry, hitherto unseen in the South-West, the SWGF has been unable to speak with one voice this time. Unlike what happened during the Owo massacre, when flags were flown at half mast and days of mourning were declared, the secretariat of the South-West Governors is yet to pay a visit to the affected state, while the governors’ forum is yet to project a strong voice that would showcase a regional abhorrence of the development. Though the Federal Government had sent delegations to the affected community, officials of the government at the centre have not been seen at the state capital or openly working with the state government on plans aimed at bringing back the kidnapped children and their teachers.
Questions are bound to be raised as to whether politics is already acting as the dividing line for the governors. Incidentally, two of the six states are not under the control of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). While Oyo State, under Governor Seyi Makinde, is ruled by the PDP, Osun State, under Governor Ademola Adeleke, which was initially under the PDP, recently slipped to the Accord Party, following the protracted crisis that rocked the former ruling party, threatening to deny Adeleke the chance to seek re-election in the August 2026 off-season election.
Could it be that the South-West governors are too engrossed in election activities, such that they are unable to focus on the human tragedy happening in Oyo? Are they being influenced by the conspiracy theories already being woven around the incident? Incidentally, the attention of the state governors to the regional security outfit, Amotekun Corps, also appears to be waning over the years. Aside from Oyo State, which recruited the highest number of corps members, each of Ogun, Ondo, Osun, and Ekiti has recruited very few members, while Lagos has shown no particular interest in putting Amotekun to work.
That was even though each of the states agreed to provide a legal basis for the Amotekun corps by passing its establishment law through the houses of assembly. Whatever it is, the people of the South-West expect their governors to act as the true chief security officers of their states, and in line with constitutional guarantees, ensure the security and welfare of the people who occupy the geographical space that falls under their jurisdiction.
