No Peace, No Food: Alaafin Warns FG over Rural Insecurity

​OYO, Nigeria — The Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Abimbola Akeem Owoade I, has issued a stark warning to the Federal Government, stating that Nigeria’s ambitions to eliminate food import dependency and stabilize skyrocketing commodity prices will remain an illusion unless decisive, coordinated military and intelligence operations are deployed to crush rural insecurity.

​The monarch delivered this address on Friday during an interfaith prayer service held at the ancient Oyo Palace. He described the current wave of agrarian terrorism as the single greatest bottleneck to domestic food production, warning that the country’s economic backbone is systematically being eroded by non-state actors.

​”No matter how lofty or well-funded the agricultural policies announced by the authorities are, the grim reality on the ground is that rural communities are under siege,” the traditional ruler stated in a release by his Director of Media and Publicity, Bode Durojaiye. “A nation where resource-poor farmers must negotiate access to their own fields with heavily armed bandits cannot legitimately claim to be pursuing food security.”

​The Economic Drain on Agrarian Economies

​Oba Owoade contextualized how the ripple effects of kidnapping, rural banditry, and pastoral conflicts are directly driving Nigeria’s unrelenting food inflation. According to the monarch, the crisis does not merely disrupt farming cycles; it utterly dismantles local micro-economies.

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​”Kidnapping and rural insecurity severely cripple agricultural productivity by displacing rural farmers from their lands, disrupting local supply chains, and draining household incomes to pay ransoms,” the Alaafin noted.

​He further lamented the complete collapse of rural credit systems, explaining that farmers are increasingly forced to liquidate core capital assets, including livestock and machinery, simply to secure the release of abducted family members. This leaves them entirely destitute and unable to purchase basic inputs like high-yield seeds and fertilizers for subsequent planting seasons.

​This intervention comes on the heels of recent security breaches in the state, including the May 2026 abductions of students and teachers in the Ogbomoso area—whom state authorities note remain trapped within the national park—underscoring the vulnerability of the region’s rural networks. The Alaafin had previously urged the federal government to ditch reactive security measures in favor of native intelligence systems and robust tech-driven intelligence gathering.

​A Call for Unity and Justice

​Beyond tactical security measures, Oba Owoade emphasized that national stability requires a deeper social cohesion. Explaining the essence of the interfaith gathering, he noted that collective spiritual intervention remains an indispensable tool to bridge the deep-seated ethnic and religious divisions currently weaponized by criminal elements.

​”Prayer invites God’s presence to establish justice, which is a fundamental prerequisite for lasting peace,” the monarch said, stressing that true peace is an active state of stability and institutional well-being, rather than just the temporary absence of conflict.

​Corroborating the paramount ruler’s stance, the Queen Consort, Ayaba Abiwunmi Owoade, appealed to residents to sustain communal harmony, noting that localized developmental initiatives cannot yield fruit in an atmosphere of mutual suspicion and fear.

​The high-profile interfaith session drew diverse leadership from across the state, including the Chief Imam of Oyo Kingdom, Alhaji Bilaal Oseni Akinola; the Oyo State Commander of the Vigilante Group of Nigeria (VGN), Mr. Sunday Olamide; Islamic scholar Sheikh Daud Igi Ogun; alongside regional representatives of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), village heads (Baales), and members of the Oyo Mesi traditional council.

​Agrarian experts and macroeconomic analysts continue to echo the monarch’s sentiments, warning that if the farming corridors of the Middle Belt and the South-West remain exposed to unchecked criminal enterprise, Nigeria’s current battles with food scarcity and localized inflation will only intensify.