NYSC kidnap: Ejiofor warns of security threat in Igboland, urges DSS to dismantle criminal networks

By Titus Eleweke

Anambra State born human rights lawyer and lead counsel of Indigenous People of Biafra IPOB Sir Ifeanyi Ejiofor, Esq. (KSC), has raised the alarm over what he described as a growing security threat in Ala-Igbo.

He urged the Department of State Services (DSS) to dismantle suspected kidnapping networks, identify their sponsors and secure forests allegedly being used as operational bases by armed groups.

Ejiofor, who made the call in his Weekend Musings titled “The Gathering Storm Over Ala-Igbo: The NYSC Kidnap Mystery, Fulani Terror Suspects and the Dangers Lurking in Our Forests,” said the reported abduction of National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members in Imo State should serve as a serious warning about the security challenges confronting the South-East.

He urged the DSS, under its Director-General, Mr Oluwatosin Adeola Ajayi, not to limit its efforts to the arrest of suspects but to pursue credible intelligence capable of exposing and dismantling the wider criminal networks behind kidnapping and other violent crimes.

Ejiofor’s intervention comes amid controversy over the circumstances surrounding the rescue of the abducted corps members, particularly allegations concerning the payment of ransom, which the police have denied.

He said he did not intend to adjudicate on the dispute between the parents of the victims and security agencies but was more concerned about the broader security implications of the incident.

“My intervention, therefore, is not to adjudicate on that dispute, but to draw attention to the more disturbing security implications of this incident,” he stated.

The lawyer expressed gratitude to God for sparing the lives of the young graduates, noting that their journey was connected to the NYSC scheme, which was established to promote national integration by exposing Nigerian graduates to different cultures, ethnicities and environments.

According to him, it is a tragic irony that a programme designed to unite Nigerians should expose its beneficiaries to dangers capable of undermining national cohesion.

He also commended the security operatives who mobilised across Owerri and surrounding forest areas during the operation, saying the safe return of the corps members deserved commendation, regardless of the precise circumstances of their release.

However, he insisted that the circumstances surrounding the rescue should be properly established, adding that Nigerians deserved credible explanations about what transpired.

Ejiofor said his particular concern centred on the reported operation under Ajayi’s leadership and the alleged apprehension of suspects described in reports as Fulani jihadists.

He argued that the reported arrests, if substantiated, would represent an important development in addressing concerns about kidnapping and other violent crimes in the South-East.

The lawyer also criticised what he described as a pattern in which innocent youths and traders of Igbo extraction were allegedly picked up, labelled criminals and presented as security successes in similar circumstances.

He called for an approach that would ensure genuine criminal suspects were held accountable while innocent citizens were protected from arbitrary arrests and wrongful profiling.

Recalling his previous warnings about the alleged infiltration of forests by armed groups purportedly operating under the guise of herdsmen, Ejiofor said the latest incident should prompt the authorities to take such security concerns seriously.

He warned that forests could become operational bases for kidnapping, intimidation and other violent crimes where armed groups established themselves beyond effective state control.

“The reported abduction of road users on Igbo soil, with ransom allegedly demanded and paid, should therefore be treated as a grave warning, not another headline to be forgotten when the next political drama takes centre stage,” he said.

Ejiofor cautioned political leaders and security authorities against allowing insecurity to spread from forest areas into highways, farming communities and residential settlements.

According to him, unchecked criminal activities could leave farmers displaced from their ancestral lands, subject rural communities to extortion and force families to live under persistent threats of violence.

He warned that the consequences could extend beyond immediate loss of lives and property to the gradual erosion of local authority, economic activities and the freedom of residents to live safely in their communities.

The lawyer also drew attention to reports of alleged violent incursions and displacement in agrarian communities, including Ukpaka and Mbanano in Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area of Enugu State.

He called for urgent and independent investigations into allegations that residents had been driven from their farms and that women and girls had suffered abuse.

Ejiofor said such allegations should neither be dismissed nor ignored, stressing that any established acts of violence would amount to a serious breach of the state’s responsibility to protect lives and property.

He urged the Enugu State Government and relevant security agencies to investigate the reports, protect affected communities and ensure that anyone found culpable was prosecuted in accordance with the law.

Addressing the DSS Director-General directly, Ejiofor said the priority should be to go beyond the arrest of suspected foot soldiers and uncover the wider structures sustaining criminal operations.
“My appeal to DSS Director-General is simple: do not stop at arrests,” he said.

He called on the agency to use credible intelligence to identify those allegedly financing and supplying armed groups, dismantle their operational bases and support coordinated efforts to secure vulnerable forest areas.

“Arresting the foot soldiers while leaving their bases, sponsors and supply chains intact is akin to cutting the branches of a poisonous tree while watering its roots,” he stated.

He further stressed that security operations must be intelligence-led, lawful and sustained, with adequate safeguards to prevent innocent residents from being subjected to indiscriminate profiling.

On grazing-related concerns, Ejiofor called for the enforcement of anti-open-grazing laws enacted in parts of Ala-Igbo, insisting that no individual or group should be exempt from the law on account of cattle grazing, ethnic identity or political patronage.

He, however, cautioned against attributing criminality to an entire ethnic group, maintaining that responsibility should rest on individuals who commit crimes and those who collaborate with them.

“Culpability belongs to the perpetrators and their collaborators, not to people who share their ancestry,” he said.

Ejiofor warned that the security situation required urgent attention, drawing parallels with experiences in Benue, Plateau and parts of Uzo-Uwani in Enugu State.

He said the reported incidents in these areas should serve as warnings to leaders and security agencies rather than developments to be observed from a distance.

“Ala-Igbo is sitting on a keg of gunpowder, and the fuse may already be burning,” he declared.

He warned that failure to confront emerging security threats early could make the eventual cost of restoring peace far greater.

He reiterated his commendation of the security operatives involved in the reported operation in Imo State, expressing hope that it would mark the beginning of a sustained campaign against kidnapping and other violent crimes.

He called for the protection of vulnerable communities, the securing of forests and the dismantling of criminal networks through lawful and decisive action.

“The time for the total sanitisation and liberation of Ala-Igbo is NOW—not tomorrow, not when our communities have been overrun, and certainly not when our people become strangers in their ancestral homeland,” Ejiofor said.

He added that authorities should not wait until insecurity escalated before
taking preventive measures, declaring: “When the roof is on fire, the responsible householder does not wait for the flames to reach the bedroom before raising the alarm.”