Last week, the sleepy town of Igangan, Oyo State, woke up to the ugly news of attacks by persons suspected to be herdsmen or bandits, reportedly leaving about 20 people dead. the gory sight of the pictures and videos that went viral from that attack left much to be desired. In fact, they weren’t for the fain-hearted. It was mindless, heinous and completely thoughtless.
Curiously, however, such a deadly attack, on a normal day, should have elicited spontaneous reactions, not only from the people of Igangan but all well-meaning people around the country and the world, with a resolve that would have compelled the government to respond constructively.
But to the shock of many, apart from the fact that the government was busy with Twitter fight, even the concerned people of Igangan didn’t go beyond their video-recording of the incident and the noise that followed. The people were left to deal with their losses, although, the Oyo State Governor, ‘Seyi Makinde, had since visited and promised to do better a next time in terms of security.
Now, the message from this is simple and clear. For many, and in fact, common sense presupposes that the attacks were orchestrated by certain interests, in other words, those behind it are effectively remote-controlling the situation, determining when to move forward and when to beat a retreat.
The development and its aftermath do not look like the attackers just strayed into that town and hacked down anything in sight. This was properly orchestrated, well organised and executed. What it also means, is that the political undertone to it is higher than anyone could imagine. This, therefore, is why the government at all levels must rethink the approach to security, particularly, reining in the saboteurs.
