Daily Digest Online

A palpable wave of apprehension is sweeping through communities across southern Nigeria, transforming the once-familiar landscape of local forests and farmlands into a source of deep unease. The catalyst is a southward expansion of bandit activity from the northern regions, pushing criminal elements toward new frontiers and compelling state governments to adopt unprecedented local security measures. Residents like Bamidele, a cassava farmer in Olorunsogo, Oyo State, articulate the daily fear. "We cannot sleep with both eyes closed anymore," he confesses. "We see strange faces in the bush that we don't recognize. These are not regular hunters or herders. Something is clearly changing." This sentiment echoes from the dense Oke-Ogun forests to the riverine areas of the Niger Delta, as bandit groups test the boundaries of southern states. Mapping the Southern Frontier of a Northern Crisis Investigations indicate that the movement ...