By Pathfinder Reporter
Thursday June 19, 2025
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The Yoruba Emancipation Union has issued a strong call to governors and Houses of Assembly in Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Ondo, Ekiti, Lagos, Kogi, and Kwara States to urgently enact laws that will back the deployment of armed forest security guards in the region.
In a detailed open letter jointly signed by Pastor Agbebi Joel Adebola, Secretary General, and Prof E.F.G. Ajayi, Director General, the group described Nigeria’s security situation as catastrophic and called for immediate regional legislation to support the forest guard directive issued by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on May 15, 2025.
The group said the growing wave of killings, kidnappings, arson, rape, and destruction of farmlands by heavily armed terrorists, particularly in Yorubaland, is no longer tolerable and must be addressed with urgency, strategy, and local force. It warned that if the forests across the South-West continue to remain porous and under the occupation of criminal groups, communities, heritage, and economies would remain under siege.
According to the group, the Buhari-led administration between 2015 and 2023 marked the darkest period of violent insecurity against the Yoruba people. They accused former President Muhammadu Buhari of deliberately allowing Fulani terrorists and foreign militia to infiltrate the country, weaponize insecurity, and target Indigenous communities in a calculated attempt to grab ancestral lands and enforce a Fulani agenda.
The group recalled several massacres and atrocities during that period, including the mass murder of over 50 worshippers at St. Francis Catholic Church in Owo, the killings of traditional rulers in Ondo and Ekiti States, the destruction of lives and farmlands in Oke-Ogun, and the attempted assassination of Sunday Igboho by government operatives in 2021.
They said that despite efforts by security agencies and informal networks like vigilantes, the situation worsened under Buhari due to systemic sabotage, the release of arrested terrorists by “orders from above,” and the failure of federal leadership to act in good faith.
While commending President Tinubu for initiating the Armed Forest Guard policy, the group stated that its full implementation rests on the commitment of state governments and lawmakers. It urged the passage of enabling laws that will expel non-indigenous forest dwellers, regulate forest activities, prosecute illegal miners, secure biodiversity, and prevent further infiltration by violent criminals.
The group emphasized that forest guards must be highly trained, well-armed, and equipped to function like military personnel, capable of confronting armed invaders and defending communities across forest routes, farmland,s, and rural corridors. It added that the guards must also be tasked with monitoring environmental threats, controlling forest fires, educating the public, and maintaining ecological infrastructure.
Yoruba Emancipation Union said only educated and competent individuals should be recruited into the proposed force, with qualifications ranging from certificates to university degrees, and must undergo intensive combat training on land, air, and water.
The letter called for institutional cooperation between state security outfits and relevant federal agencies to eliminate sabotage and ensure lawful coordination. It warned that forest insecurity has created economic and social dislocations and enabled illegal mining of critical resources such as gold, lithium, and uranium, with serious consequences for national development.
The group described the forest guard policy as a bold and unprecedented decision by President Tinubu, insisting that Yoruba states must lead the implementation effort as a matter of survival and justice. It expressed confidence that the governors and parliamentarians in the affected states would treat the matter as a legislative and security priority.
Pastor Agbebi Joel Adebola and Prof E.F.G. Ajayi, who signed the statement, said the Yoruba people must never again allow their forests to become battlefields, nor let their ancestral lands fall into the hands of terrorists and foreign invaders.
They urged the South-West leaders to act without delay and show the country that the region can build a secure and lawful system to protect its people, its environment, and its future.
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