03/10/2025
OPEN LETTER TO KWARA STATE GOVERNOR BY Yusuf Ahmed Lafiagi
Governor AbdulRazaq, Kwara North is Bleeding. Act, Now, By Yusuf Ahmad Baba
North is bleeding in silence. Once a peaceful agrarian region, it now groans under the siege of armed bandits, while its agony is brushed aside by those in power.
Despite deadly attacks, rampant kidnappings, and widespread fear, the Kwara State Government continues to behave as though nothing serious is happening. In doing so, it has not only failed its people, but erased them from national consciousness and compassion.
Nowhere is this neglect clearer than in Edu and Patigi Local Government Areas, where entire communities have been overrun, families uprooted from their ancestral homes, and public institutions pushed to the brink of collapse.
Fear has replaced governance. Policy has given way to silence. And when, just yesterday, the Kwara State Government issued a press release on insecurity, Edu and Patigi were not even mentioned.
That omission was no mere error. It was an insult. It told the people of these battered communities that their suffering does not matter. The irony could not be sharper. While the statement was being circulated, residents of Zambufu in Lafiagi Emirate were under attack on their farms.
Kidnappings were reported. Yet the government offered no immediate acknowledgement, no visible response. What does this silence say about the value of life in Kwara North?
As if abandonment were not enough, the government has begun withdrawing essential services from Edu under the guise of safety concerns. The NYSC Orientation Camp at Ipata in Tsaragi Emirate has been relocated to Ilorin.
That relocation was not an act of protection but an admission of defeat: rather than secure the area, the government fled. The General Hospital meant to serve the three emirates in Edu has also ceased operation.
Thousands of residents have been left without access to basic healthcare. A hospital that once stood as a lifeline now lies idle, a monument to the state’s indifference. These are not acts of courage.
They are acts of retreat. Negligence, dressed up as caution. Instead of restoring confidence and securing lives, the state has chosen to abandon its citizens to fate.
In the 2023 elections, Edu and Patigi gave their votes overwhelmingly to Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, even with their own son on the ballot. They trusted his leadership. They believed his promises.
In return, they have received silence, exclusion, and fear. The Governor has paid visits of condolence to communities in other parts of the state, including Babanla and, most recently, Oke Ode, after an attack that claimed almost 15 lives.
Yet history will not forget that on July 3, 2025, over seventy vigilantes from Edu and Patigi were slaughtered in a fierce battle with terrorists. The Governor never came. He never stood with their families. His silence spoke louder than any visit elsewhere.
It revealed the hierarchy of his priorities. Today, many in Kwara North believe they are treated as second-class citizens in their own state. Whether this perception is justified or not, every government omission and every failure to respond only strengthens it.
Insecurity in Edu and Patigi is not a local crisis. It is a state failure. The collapse of healthcare, the shutting down of institutions, the displacement of families—all are clear signs that governance is crumbling where it is needed most.
If banditry is not contained now, it will not stop at Edu and Patigi. Already, it has crept southward into Ifelodun, striking Oke Ode and Babanla. Left unchecked, it may soon engulf the heart of Kwara.
History has shown that what begins in silence ends in tragedy. A government that cannot secure its land, its hospitals, its schools, or its youth corps members has failed in its most sacred duty.
Kwara North is not asking for miracles. Its people are asking for protection, presence, and respect. To continue pretending nothing is happening is to nurture fear, anger, and hopelessness—the very seeds that tear societies apart.
