Food Security Under Threat: Oyo Monarch Backs Afenifere Warning as South-West Farmers Desert Lands Over Kidnappings

In a stern reinforcement of regional anxieties, Oba Ayobami Ogunmakinde has thrown his weight behind the recent security alert issued by the pan-Yoruba socio-political organization, Afenifere. The monarch's declaration highlights a growing crisis in the South-West geopolitical zone, where agrarian communities are reportedly being emptied of their workforce. As attacks, banditry, and targeted kidnappings continue to plague rural outposts, local food production faces an unprecedented systemic shock.

According to reports from agricultural unions, vast swathes of arable land in Oyo, Ondo, and Ogun states have been abandoned. Farmers, who represent the backbone of the region's domestic economy, are allegedly fleeing their ancestral homesteads to seek refuge in overcrowded urban centers. Oba Ogunmakinde noted that this silent migration is not merely a regional security threat but a clear and present danger to national food security, warning that the continuous neglect of rural safety could lead to widespread famine.

Afenifere had earlier issued a strongly worded communique criticizing the federal government's slow response to the activities of armed herders and criminal cartels operating within forest reserves. By backing this warning, the Oyo monarch aligns with a growing consensus of traditional rulers who feel increasingly isolated by central security agencies. "We cannot continue to fold our arms while the lands that feed our people are turned into killing fields," the monarch was quoted as saying during an emergency briefing with local stakeholders.

The situation is further compounded by unconfirmed accounts indicating that ransom payments have become a standard, albeit illegal, tax imposed on rural farming cooperatives by these criminal elements. This unchecked extortion has paralyzed economic activities, forcing local food prices to skyrocket across major markets in Ibadan, Lagos, and Abeokuta.