The recent kidnapping crisis in Oyo State has pushed families into painful pleas for the safe return of loved ones, including a school principal. Communication strategist and columnist Folorunso Fatai Adisa writes from a moment of grief and draws attention to how quickly help arrives when lives are on the line.
There was a need to quickly meet up with someone who was leaving town on Ileya day. Everywhere seemed locked in traffic, so I had to hop on a motorcycle. I struck up a conversation with the young man ferrying me. In his sparsely spoken and broken responses, it became apparent that he could not converse fluently in English, Yoruba, or even the limited Hausa pleasantries that I understood.
I asked which state he was from, but he did not seem to know. I mentioned Katsina, Jigawa, Yobe, and Borno, and he shook his head in negation before eventually agreeing to Katsina. After further probing, and after I mentioned several places in Katsina that he could not identify, he admitted that he was actually from the Niger Republic. That is one of the challenges associated with undocumented immigrants who speak languages that are also widely spoken in Nigeria. He is a Woodabe (Fulani) from Tillabéri in Niger.
Fulani Terrorists and Criminal Elements
Fulani terrorists, although many people allege that the perpetrators are often the Bororo, who largely live in forest settlements, have done significant damage across Nigeria over the last decade. They have disrupted peace and undermined public safety in many communities. A few days ago, a Fulani man and members of his family were reportedly caught with ransom proceeds. This is not an attempt at stereotyping but an acknowledgement of the actions of criminal elements whose activities have tarnished the image of the wider ethnic group.
We cannot, out of excessive political correctness, continue to ignore the role of those responsible for these crimes. Government should engage community leaders and stakeholders more robustly and ensure that they work cooperatively with security agencies to identify and flush out criminal elements within their midst.
A Security System That Arrives After the Damage
The tragedy of insecurity in Nigeria is that government often responds after blood has already been spilled. We have gradually built a security culture that is reactive rather than preventive. Sirens arrive after screams. Condolences follow casualties. Committees emerge after communities have been ravaged. Yet the most successful security systems in the world are not judged by how effectively they respond to attacks but by how consistently they prevent them. Prevention lacks drama, but it remains the highest expression of security governance.
Why Community Intelligence Matters
This is why the conversation about community participation in security deserves greater attention. The late Nobel Prize-winning political scientist, Elinor Ostrom, challenged the assumption that public safety could only be effectively managed through highly centralised institutions. Her work showed that local communities often possess critical intelligence, trust networks, and contextual knowledge that distant bureaucracies struggle to access quickly. Security becomes stronger when community vigilance complements state capacity rather than existing in isolation from it.
This partly explains why insecurity persists despite repeated military deployments and security operations. Armed groups understand the terrain, cultivate local informants, exploit institutional delays, and often move faster than formal structures can respond. The state may possess superior weapons, but criminals frequently possess superior information. In modern security architecture, intelligence is often more decisive than ammunition. A government that cannot see danger early will constantly find itself fighting danger late.
And, even beyond patrol vehicles and weapons, trust itself has become a security asset. Communities are more willing to share information when they believe authorities will act promptly and responsibly. Where trust collapses, silence grows. Where silence grows, criminality thrives. The battle against kidnapping, banditry, and terrorism will therefore not be won solely in forests, highways, and military formations. It will also be won in villages, neighbourhoods, and marketplaces where citizens and institutions learn once again to treat security as a shared responsibility rather than a distant government obligation.
A Personal Face of Insecurity
Watching the kidnapped principal’s husband, an elderly man, genuflect before Governor Seyi Makinde and plead for the rescue of his wife and others while tears streamed down his face was a harrowing sight. The Yoruba say, 'Àkó igi kì í ṣ’ooje,' implying that a strong man does not easily break down. Yet his strength betrayed him. That alone reveals the depth of anguish and helplessness that this situation has inflicted upon its victims.
Those Who Debate vs Those Who Suffer
You and I can banter about Chelsea and Arsenal because we are not the victims. It is the victims and their extended families who understand that paying ransom is not handsome and that captivity is anything but a fun-filled experience. We discuss policy; they live the consequences. We debate negotiation; they count the days until a loved one returns home, if they return at all.
God will not descend from heaven to solve these problems for us. That is precisely why He gave us the intelligence to establish governments and institutions. Consequently, government must come to our aid. The protection of lives and property remains its foremost responsibility. A state that cannot guarantee security gradually surrenders its legitimacy, while citizens begin to lose faith in the very institutions created to protect them.
Dear Governor Seyi Makinde, bring back the kidnapped victims in Oyo State. Dear President Bola Tinubu, protect Nigeria like a mother hen protects her chicks.
Folorunso Fatai Adisa is a communication strategist and columnist. He holds a Master’s degree in Media and Communication from the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, United Kingdom.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Legit.ng.
