By Yusuf Danjuma Yunusa

The Oyo State House of Assembly has rejected suggestions and calls that the state government should negotiate with the bandits who abducted teachers and students during the coordinated attack at Ahoro-Esinele in Oriire Local Government Area of the state on Friday, May 15, 2026.

It, however, called for intensified rescue operations to secure the release of victims abducted during the attack.

This resolution followed a motion of urgent public importance moved by the lawmaker representing Oriire State Constituency, Johnson Ogundele, during plenary shortly after the House resumed from the Eid-el-Kabir recess.

Presenting the motion, Ogundele recounted the May 15 attack on Ahoro-Esinele and Yawota communities, where bandits invaded during school hours, killing a teacher, a student and an Okada rider, while abducting dozens of students, pupils and teachers.

The lawmaker expressed concern over recurring attacks in Oriire LGA, noting that the area had witnessed increasing bandit activities since January, including an attack on the National Park Service office at Oloka village, where five forest guards were killed.

He called on Governor Seyi Makinde, to intensify security response, deploy more operatives, and personally engage with affected communities, while urging the establishment of a permanent military base within vulnerable areas and forest corridors.

The Assembly also directed the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and SUBEB to carry out immediate security audits of schools located near forests and border settlements across the state.

Lawmakers further urged the government to install solar-powered security lighting, perimeter fencing and CCTV cameras in vulnerable schools, and to develop a comprehensive Safe School Emergency Response Protocol for both public and private institutions.

They unanimously rejected proposals that the state government should negotiate with the bandits responsible for the abduction.

Seconding the motion, Majority Leader Sanjo Adedoyin (Ogbomoso South) renewed calls for the establishment of state police, arguing that current security arrangements were overstretched and ineffective in difficult terrains.

Other lawmakers, including Olubisi Oluranti (Ogbomoso North), Gbenga Oyekola (Atiba), and Gabriel Babajide (Ibadan North II), called for increased deployment of security personnel, better protection of forest reserves, and broader reforms of Nigeria’s security architecture.

They also raised concerns over increasing kidnapping incidents extending into urban areas and the need to strengthen the Amotekun Corps with better equipment and logistics.

The House subsequently adopted several resolutions, including a call on the federal government to establish a permanent military base in Oriire LGA and strengthen intelligence-driven operations in the area.

Speaker Adebo Ogundoyin, while ruling on the debate, firmly dismissed any suggestion of negotiation with kidnappers, warning that such an approach would embolden criminal elements and worsen insecurity.

He urged continued collaboration with security agencies to ensure the safe rescue of all abducted victims, while reaffirming the Assembly’s commitment to supporting stronger security measures across the state.

By Yusuf Danjuma Yunusa

The Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) has called on President Bola Tinubu to resign from office, accusing him of failing in his constitutional responsibility to safeguard the lives and property of Nigerians amid escalating insecurity across the country.

The opposition party made the demand on Thursday against the backdrop of growing public concern over persistent kidnappings, banditry and violent attacks, including the recent abduction of pupils and teachers in Oyo State.

Recall that armed men on May 15 stormed three schools in the Ahoro-Esinle and Yawota communities of Oriire Local Government Area, abducting scores of pupils and teachers and leaving families devastated. The incident sparked widespread outrage and renewed calls for urgent reforms to Nigeria’s security architecture.

In a statement issued on Thursday, PRP National Chairman, Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, said the security situation under the Tinubu administration had deteriorated significantly, with criminal groups operating freely across various parts of the country.

According to him, insecurity is no longer confined to specific regions, as Nigerians across the country now live under constant threat.

“It is now beyond any doubt that President Bola Tinubu has failed woefully in discharging his prime responsibility as Nigerian President, which is to secure the Nigerian citizen. Under his watch, old threats have blossomed and mutated, while more and more Nigerians, irrespective of status or age, have fallen victim to violent criminals,” Baba-Ahmed said.

The PRP chairman lamented that the worsening security crisis had exposed even the most vulnerable Nigerians, including schoolchildren, to attacks by criminal elements.

“From generals to toddlers; from Bama to Badagry, no Nigerian is safe under this leadership. It is no longer the case that only parts of the country have been virtually surrendered to criminals. Now, no Nigerian in any part of the country is protected from rampant violent criminals who exploit our major weakness,” he stated.

“School children have joined the long stretch of soft targets, and the nation appears to be at the point of accepting this situation as normal. We must not submit to the weakness of leaders and the exploits of criminals. This is not how Nigerians should live.”

Baba-Ahmed further accused the President of concentrating political power without delivering corresponding improvements in security, arguing that there was little evidence the administration could reverse the trend.

“Our President has failed the nation, and there is no evidence that he can improve on his pathetic record. He has amassed all the power in the country around him, yet he has failed to use it to protect and defend Nigerians,” he said.

The former presidential aide maintained that democratic governance requires accountability and responsibility, insisting that Tinubu’s continued stay in office despite the country’s security challenges was untenable.

“In most other democracies, President Tinubu’s failure to respect the values of accountability and responsibility would not have been tolerated. Nigerians must rise to demand an end to this ineptitude and indifference. President Tinubu should resign, now!” he declared.

The PRP also argued that Nigerians should not be compelled to wait until the 2027 general elections to register their dissatisfaction with the administration’s handling of security matters.

“While he may have the luxury of ignoring our current deteriorating circumstances and awaiting the verdict of rejection by voters in 2027, Nigerians who will continue to fall victim to violent criminals do not have the luxury of waiting to vote him out in 2027,” Baba-Ahmed said.

“There is nothing democratic in insisting that incompetent and uncaring leadership must complete terms. Nigerians should demand, with one voice, that President Tinubu’s failure to secure Nigerians cannot be tolerated any further.”

The latest criticism adds to mounting concerns over recurring incidents of kidnapping, banditry, communal clashes and attacks on communities across the country, which have intensified calls for more effective security measures.

However, the Presidency has consistently maintained that the Tinubu administration inherited deeply rooted security challenges and is deploying military and intelligence resources to combat criminality and restore security nationwide.

By Yusuf Danjuma Yunusa

The Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday adjourned a suit filed by Nafiu-Bala Gombe against Sen. David Mark-led leadership of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), until June 8 for hearing.

Justice Peter Lifu adjourned the case after Gombe’s lawyer, Robert Emukpoeruo, SAN, applied for an adjournment following the absence of counsel to parties seeking to join the suit in court.

When the case was called, only the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and parties seeking joinder were not represented in court.

Although it was confirmed from the court record that INEC was duly served with hearing notice, parties seeking to join were not served.

Counsel to ADC, Shaibu Aruwa, SAN, called the attention of the court to the history of the suit in relation to parties applying for joinder.

He said the former trial judge, Justice Emeka Nwite, had taken judicial notice of them in the previous proceedings.

Aruwa, therefore, urged the court to accord the parties seeking joinder the same respect to come and say why they needed to be joined in the interest of fair hearing.

Besides, he said issues had already been joined with the parties seeking to join the case, and that the plaintiff was in the know.

Responding, Emukpoeruo gave a titbit about the Supreme Court judgement which ordered for an accelerated hearing of the case, in line with the earlier Appeal Court judgement.

The lawyer, who applied that all pending processes be filed and served, sought an adjournment to give the parties seeking to join the leverage for fair hearing.

ADC’s counsel, Aruwa; Suleiman Usman, SAN, who appeared for Sen. David Mark; Realwan Okpanachi, who represented Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola and P. I. Oyewole, lawyer to Chief Ralp Nwosu, did not oppose the application for adjournment.

The defence counsel however informed the court that the attitude of the plaintiff, in applying for the reassignment of the case when the matter was before Justice Nwite, had allegedly frustrated the order of accelerated hearing of the apex court.

But Justice Lifu, who said that nobody has the right to choose which court his case should be determined, said based on the directive of the chief judge who assigned the case to him and the Supreme Court decision for accelerated hearing, he was bound to do justice to the matter.

The judge said the court would take the full responsibility for inability to effect service of the hearing notices on the parties seeking to join the suit.

He subsequently adjourned the matter until June 8 for hearing.

Justice Lifu, who ordered accelerated hearing of the case, directed the bailiff of the court to serve all the parties seeking to be joined in the suit within 24 hours of the order.

“In the circumstances of this case and overall interest of justice and order of the Supreme Court and the Appeal Court, this case is hereby given accelerated hearing,” he said.

He ordered all the parties to file and serve all their processes before the next adjourned date.

The aggrieved former National Deputy Chairman of ADC, Nafiu Bala, had filed the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/1819/2025.

The plaintiff, in the suit, is seeking an order restraining Mark, the embattled National Chairman of ADC; Aregbesola, the National Secretary, and members of their interim National Working Committee (NWC) from parading themselves as the party’s leaders.

He had argued that the emergence of Mark, Aregbesola and other NWC members as party’s leaders breached the provisions of the party’s constitution and the Electoral Act.

Gombe had sued ADC, Mark, Aregbesola, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and Ralph Nwosu as 1st to 5th defendants respectively in the suit.

Nwosu was the former ADC National Chairman who stepped down for David Mark leadership of the party.

The former Vice President Atiku Abubakar emerged as ADC presidential candidate on May 27 after defeating two other aspirants, including Rotimi Amaechi, former Minister of Transportation, at the party’s national convention.

Also, Dumebi Kachikwu, in a national convention conducted by another faction of ADC, emerged the presidential candidate of the party for the 2027 general election.

The 2023 presidential candidate of the party was adopted by factional members of the party as sole presidential candidate on May 24.