The attack on Sunday on St Francis Catholic Church, Owo, Ondo State, erased any lingering doubt that terrorism has spread from the North to engulf the whole of Nigeria. In the dastardly assault during the church service, gunmen armed with explosives and automatic weapons opened fire on worshippers. When the dust cleared, more than 35 persons lay dead initially, scores of others were injured and the relative security of the South-West was shattered. The government at federal and state levels must muster the political will and an effective strategy to contain terrorism before the country descends into total anarchy.

For some analysts, it is already too late. To begin with, the terrorists are massive in number and have spread out all over the country under different guises. And, unlike the bumbling Federal Government and the visionless state governors, the terror groups have a purpose, a strategy and commitment to their murderous enterprise.

The attack and many others occurring daily across the country reflect the terrible damage the regime of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), has done to the collapsing union. His incompetence and poor leadership have conflated with those of state governors and federal and state legislators who have refused to press for an immediate amendment to the 1999 Constitution to facilitate state policing or put effective local security agencies in place pending that.

Nowhere is safe again. The attackers dealt a deadly blow at the heart of what Christianity holds most sacred: the church. Parishioners were about to close around midday when guns started booming from all directions. Employing the element of surprise, the attackers overwhelmed an unprepared congregation. Women and children were among the dead, with the figure rising as some victims rushed to health facilities succumbed to their injuries. A statement by the Catholic Laity Council of Nigeria said more than 50 persons had died.

The scene was horrific, blood was spattered everywhere. Survivors and rescuers were disoriented by the savagery of the attack. Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, who rushed home from Abuja where his party was meeting to prepare for the 2023 elections, was almost speechless. Fighting back tears, he rightly described the outrage as “vile and satanic.” The killers must be apprehended and brought to justice.

The spread of terrorism across the country has long been foretold. But as usual, the various governments, as well as the security agencies neither heeded the alerts nor took pre-emptive measures. Recent warnings came from a Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka, the Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir el-Rufai, and other notable figures alerting the authorities that terrorists were moving all over the country. The O’odua Peoples Congress, other groups, and individuals, through statements, online videos, and reports to the security agencies, have been warning for years that Islamic terrorists, Fulani herdsmen/terrorists, rated among the world’s most deadly terror groups, have infested forests and shanties in the South-West in their thousands.

The country appears to be in an irreversible plunge into state failure. The Federal Government has politicized insecurity. In the process, Buhari has lost control. Under him, Fulani herdsmen, joined by Fulani bandits from all over West and Central Africa, have become an army of occupation, numbering tens of thousands, occupying forests, border communities and even towns. They have unleashed terror on Nigerians. Encouraged by a seemingly sympathetic Presidency, a security system with an unbalanced leadership skewed overwhelmingly in their ethnic and sectarian direction, they operate everywhere with blood-curdling impunity.