‘If we don’t act now, jihadists will take the Southwest:’ Prince Ojajuni
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By Segun Onibiyo and Olatunde Marolan
(Lagos)- While mainstream media home in on global conflicts, the complex civil war in Nigeria appears to be taking a turn for the worse.
Fulani Ethnic Militia (FEM) – often called “bandits” by mainstream media — are rapidly expanding their reach from Nigeria’s Northwest into Nigeria’s southwestern states, TruthNigeria has learned.
Eyewitnesses speaking to TruthNigeria say the Fulani Ethnic Militia (FEM) are planting forest strongholds, abducting civilians, and issuing chilling threats of territorial ownership. The once relatively secure states of Ondo, Ekiti, Ogun, Osun, and Oyo now face escalating crime and terrorist insurgency.
Local defense leaders warn that militant cells operating within the dense forested corridors of the region are not just cash-hungry criminals but ideological insurgents seeking to embed Jihad in the Yoruba heartland.
“They have surrounded the entire region,” Commander Adetunji Adeleye, head of Amotekun in Ondo State, told TruthNigeria in an interview in Ibadan, Oyo State. “From our intelligence, they’re moving strategically – planting camps, recruiting scouts, and stockpiling arms in our forests. This is not just banditry. This is an invasion.” Adeleye added.
Abductions as a Weapon
The recent kidnappings of retired National Youth Service Corps Director-General Major General Maharazu Tsiga and Prince Eniola Ojajuni, National President of the Afenifere Youth Council, have exposed the depths of the crisis.
Tsiga was kidnapped in Kogi State in February 2025 and held captive for 56 days. His release, quietly secured through ransom paid by retired military associates, highlighted the inability of the state to rescue even its elites.
“I saw hell! I was a military man,” Tsiga told sources after his release.
“But out there, rank doesn’t matter. They are not afraid of uniforms. They see Nigeria as weak, and they are exploiting that weakness.”
Ojajuni endured a particularly harrowing ordeal. Ambushed near a military checkpoint in Akunu-Akoko, Ondo State, he was shot and marched into the forests with others, enduring beatings and mock executions across five separate camps.
“These people are not hiding. They mocked our leaders, monitored the news, and told me they had 26 camps in Ondo alone,” he said. “We are no longer talking about criminals. These are jihadists. And if we don’t act now, they will take the Southwest,” the prince told TruthNigeria reporters in an exclusive interview in Lagos.
The criminals have established well-organized kidnapping camps across South-West Nigeria, strategically positioned for their operations: Ondo State – 27 camps; Ekiti State – 16 camps; Osun State – seven camps; Ogun State – five camps,” he said to TruthNigeria reporters.
“During my captivity, the kidnappers boasted of their plans to intensify abductions in Ondo and Lagos states, citing their hidden camps in these regions. They also revealed details of their operations along the Sagamu–Ijebu Ode Road, near Oso-Sa Ijebu, weeks before my abduction.” Prince Ojajuni said.
Community Pushback and Regional Mobilization
In response, Southwest governors are drafting coordinated plans to bolster Amotekun, the regional security network, and expand collaboration with local vigilante groups [volunteer community guards] and forest hunters. Plans are underway to fund better weaponry, intelligence gathering, and rapid-response units.
“We know this is a war of ideology and occupation,” said a senior aide to the Ondo State governor in a statement published in a major newspaper. “The goal is to root them out from every tree line, every cave, every trail. This is about protecting our ancestral lands.”
Oyo, Ekiti, and Ogun states are expected to unveil joint-patrol initiatives and inter-state operations in the coming months.
Expert Warnings and Calls for Global Concern
The threat is more than regional – it’s a national crisis with international implications, according to Dr. Ahmed Yusuf, a counter-terrorism analyst at Abuja’s Centre for Strategic Studies.
“Fulani militant cells in the Southwest now operate like mobile insurgent units – shifting from forest to forest, using ransom to buy arms, and pushing an ethno-religious Jihadist agenda that mimics the early playbook of Boko Haram,” Yusuf told TruthNigeria.
“The line between crime and jihad is now blurred,” according to Colonel (Rtd.) Mary Ogbodo, a former intelligence officer. “These actors operate as terrorists but profit like gangsters. Without a national counterinsurgency strategy, Nigeria risks a Taliban-style occupation of its forest regions,” Ogbodo said to TruthNigeria.
Kehinde Ajetunmobi, senior researcher at Supply Base Management (SBM) Intelligence, emphasized the economic and geopolitical stakes: “Insecurity along Nigeria’s southern corridor threatens oil transport, agricultural supply chains, and regional stability. If these forests fall, coastal security becomes the next battleground.”
A Nation Held Hostage
Kidnappings in Nigeria have surged dramatically in recent months. Supply Base Management – SBM Intelligence reports 3,620 abductions in 2024, with ransom payments exceeding 15 billion naira. Highways in Kogi, Ondo, and Ekiti now rival the deadly Abuja-Kaduna route in frequency of attacks.
More alarming is the ideological messaging emerging from abductors. Survivors such as Ojajuni say captors invoked religious conversion, quoted jihadist chants, and declared plans to “Islamize the region and take over Yoruba land.”
Global Response Needed
As Nigeria’s government struggles to respond, many are calling for the attention of world powers – particularly the United States.
Experts echo the sentiment, warning that extremist safe havens in West Africa pose a transnational threat. “We saw what happened with Mali, Libya, and the Sahel. Nigeria cannot be allowed to collapse into another theater of global jihad,” Yusuf told TruthNigeria.
A Nation on Edge
President Bola Tinubu, elected in 2023 on promises to end insecurity, now faces mounting criticism. In February, angry farmers in Ondo protested after 15 of their colleagues were killed by suspected herders.
Human Rights Watch researcher Anietie Ewang told TruthNigeria it’s time for accountability. “Security agencies must investigate and prosecute both kidnappers and their enablers. Silence is complicity,” Ewang said.
Released on March 1 near the Kogi-Edo border after surgery to remove bullets, Ojajuni says the trauma hasn’t ended. “They [the terrorists] told me, ‘We will succeed, God willing.’ But this is our land. We won’t surrender it.”
Segun Onibiyo and Olatunde Marolan are conflict reporters for TruthNigeria.
