Dissenting opinions, at the weekend, emanated from the civil society community in Edo State over the state of insecurity in the state. This followed the killing of eight personnel of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) attached to the BUA Cement Factory in Okpella, Etsako East Local Council of the state, and the abduction of a Chinese expatriate.

Over four people were reportedly injured in the process. While Edo Civil Society Organisations (EDOCSO) and Edo State Civil Society Coalition for Human Rights expressed displeasure over the state of insecurity, and consequently called for immediate action from both the state government and security agencies, another group, Coalition of Civil Society Organisations, disagreed with the two sister organisations.

EDOSCO, in a statement signed by the Assistant Secretary General of the organisation, Leftist Aliyu Umweni, expressed worry over the “incessant and unabated kidnapping of citizens in different parts of the state.”

Umweni, in the statement, while referring to the killing of the NSCDC personnel and similar incidents across the state, called on the “Edo State government and all the security agencies in the state to wake up to their responsibilities and ensure the lives and property of citizens are protected from the activities of the marauding kidnappers who seemed to have laid siege in different parts of the state.

He said: “All our neighbouring states have intensified efforts in pursuing the kidnappers out of their territories, thereby making Edo State their haven for their activities.” Umweni called on Okpehbolo to “bother less with the 2027 elections and concentrate more on securing the lives of Edo people with the monthly security votes.”

Corroborating EDOCSO’s position, Edo State Civil Society Coalition for Human Rights, in a statement signed by the Coordinator General and Secretary General, Kola Edokpayi and Aghatise Raphael, respectively, said: “Edo State has become a tragic theatre of insecurity — a landscape where fear rules and the lives of ordinary citizens are treated with shocking disregard.”

The activists, who called on the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency in the state without delay, said: “Edo State leaders must stop playing politics with lives.

Real security must be rebuilt from the grassroots through collaboration with communities, faith groups, and civil society.”