•Survivor narrates Oke-Ode massacre
•Security forces launch counterattack
By Demola Akinyemi, Ilorin
Kwara State has been in the eye of the storm lately over incessant attacks on residents by unrelenting bandits and kidnappers, particularly in the northern and southern parts of the state, despite the spirited efforts of the government to combat insecurity.
Among the 16 local governments in the state, the five local governments, otherwise called emirate councils, namely Ilorin East, Ilorin West, Ilorin South, Asa, and Moro, have not been seriously affected by the ongoing insecurity.
The same with Offa and Oyun local governments, leaving the remaining nine local governments scattered in the southern and northern parts of the state under siege of killings and abductions by the bandits.
Sunday Vanguard reliably gathered that the bandits, comprising mostly herdsmen from Zamfara and Sokoto states who infiltrated Kwara through Niger State, in connivance with some locals, have been perpetrating the current criminalities in the state for some time now.
It was also gathered that they operate in the thick forest in the northern and southern parts of the state where they have settled for close to 30 years now.
Sources said these people residing in the thick forests, in connivance with some locals who provide information, reportedly embraced the business of kidnapping some years back having realized that it is a much easier means of making quick and big money, turning them overnight into billionaires.
Reported cases of abductions and killings started in local governments in the northern part of the state, namely Edu, Patigi, Baruten, and Kaiama, about four years ago before it became a regular occurrence.
In Kpanpkanragi village in Edu Local Government, among several other attacks, armed bandits abducted a woman in a late-night assault in August.
About the same time in Gamalegi village in the same local government, four people were abducted by gunmen.
As if these weren’t enough, bandits launched a second brutal attack on Lataworo community in Edu LGA, forcing residents to flee.
Also, a prominent businessman was abducted in Tsaragi, in Edu.
In another attack, bandits killed a newlywed and stole hundreds of cows in Bokungi, Tsaragi community in the LGA.
There were also unreported cases of the killing of farmers on their farms and abductions in Kaiama Local Government.
Similarly in August, six people were kidnapped in Motokun and Agboro communities in Patigi Local Government while six others suffered gunshot wounds during an operation.
In Kwara South, being the immediate neighbors of Kwara North, in September in Babanla community in Ifelodun Local Government, two people were abducted shortly after Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq visited.
Sunday Vanguard gathered that more than 90% of the families and relations of the abductees since the crisis of insecurity started have been put under financial pressure by raising hundreds of millions of Naira demanded by kidnappers, a development that made kidnappings unstoppable in the state.
“No sane person would fold his arms when kidnappers demand ransom to free their loved ones. Today, aside the millions they demand, they have added drinks, foods, etc to their list”, Emmanuel Ayeoribe, a former Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in Kwara State, who contributed money towards releasing an abducted friend, told Sunday Vanguard.
“Many businesses and lives have been ruined financially in the process of securing family and friends from the jaws of bandits.
“This is very unfortunate in a country where we have governments that have powers to do and undo. It is their responsibility to protect lives and properties of citizens, so the ball is their court.”
Actions
But the state government hasn’t folded its arms as several actions were being taken to stop the menace.
For instance, Governor AbdulRazaq supported security agencies with logistics like vehicles and motorcycles to fight these criminals.
With the bandits unrelenting in their actions, he has, however, called for increased military presence.
In the meantime, the police, the military, and local vigilantes have been involved in joint searches for attackers and rescued some abducted victims, while several others are still left with kidnappers.
But since government was not winning the battle anytime soon, or so it seems, it took key decisions to mitigate the impact among which were the forced closure of cattle markets in Kwara South and relocation of the NYSC Orientation Camp from Yikpata in Edu Local Government to Ilorin, the state capital.
In the same vein, the 2025 Medical and Surgical Outreach in Ifelodun was relocated from Oke-Ode to Omupo following the Oke-Ode attack.
It would be recalled that despite government’s efforts, bandits have persisted in attacking Oke-Ode, Ndanaku, and Lataworo, leading to deaths, abductions, and displacement.
The latest attack was the massacre last Sunday morning in Oke-Ode where no fewer than 11 forest guards and a community head were killed by suspected bandits.
The suspected bandits allegedly took advantage of the Department of State Service (DSS) withdrawal of ammunition from the forest guards to launch the fatal attack, a claim that government disputed.
While the attack lasted, an unspecified number of residents were also reportedly kidnapped.
A member of the forest guards, who escaped the attack and simply identified as Ajetunmobi, told Sunday Vanguard that government was engaging in propaganda over the incident.
“We have been hearing that the bandits were around the community since Saturday night and we sent out messages to security operatives to be prepared”, he narrated.
“But to our surprise, this morning, the attackers started the attack from the duty post, targeting vigilantes”.
According to him, among those killed were community members identified as Oji, Saheed Metubi and Baale Ógba Ayo, among others.
He said the corpses of the victims had been taken to the police station in the area while the injured were rushed to the General Hospital in Share.
The survivor particularly accused government of failing in its primary duty of protecting citizens, noting that intelligence about a possible attack had circulated days earlier.
“The government failed in its primary duty. Information had been circulating for some time now that they were planning to attack Oke-Ode. Why were the soldiers withdrawn?” he asked.
Viral video
In a viral video that trailed the attack, a lady, who appeared distressed, was seen mourning her dead husband and his brother.
She also accused the DSS of disarming the town’s vigilantes prior to the attack, a move she claimed gave the assailants undue firepower advantage.
But the state government, in a response, dismissed the claims that the DSS disarmed the vigilantes otherwise known as forest guards in Oke-Ode.
The state government, in a statement by the governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Rafiu Ajakaiye, described the claim as false, saying that at no time did the DSS disarm vigilantes in any part of the state.
The statement on Tuesday came on a day security forces reportedly eliminated several terrorists on the border between Kwara and Kogi states by air strikes.
According to top security sources, notable among those killed was a kidnap kingpin called Maiwada and several foot soldiers of his.
Kwara State government ”expressed strong reservations about the “demoralising, albeit false, claim” which was made in the viral video by the woman who said DSS disarmed the vigilantes otherwise known as forest guards in Oke-Ode.
“We pray to God to console the bereaved woman — and every other one — but her claim is not true,” noted the Ajakaiye statement, quickly adding, “this clarification does not in any way de-legitimise her grief.”
Security measures
For his part, the National President of the Oke-Ode Community Development Association, Alhaji Ganiyu Ajala, while condemning the Oke-Ode killings, urged the state government to intensify security measures.
Security forces are also fighting back as a Nigerian Air Force fighter jet reportedly commenced operation Monday evening in the thick forest hideout of bandits located in the area, especially on the outskirts of Babasango, neighboring Kogi State, and left scores of them dead.
The Director of Public Relations and Information of NAF, Ehimen Ejodame, confirmed the development in a statement made available to journalists in Ilorin Tuesday afternoon.
“NAF conducted multiple coordinated missions across Kakihun, Oke-Ode, Babanla and surrounding areas”, he said.
“Reconnaissance and close air support operations were executed to deter threats, while hostile elements sighted east of Babanla were decisively engaged.
“Concurrent surveillance flights also covered key settlements and military positions, gathering critical intelligence to support ground forces”.
Training
In a related development, Sunday Vanguard gathered that about 800 vigilantes were trained at the military barracks in Sobi, Ilorin on security tactics and how to handle guns, in complementing efforts of the military and other attached security agencies in dealing with the criminals causing terror in the state of harmony.
Sources said the challenge of the forest guards recruited by the state is their inability to access AK-47 rifles which the bandits and the kidnappers are reportedly using to overpower them.
Furthermore, it was learnt that the bureaucracy of getting the military and officers of NAF to quickly come to the rescue of the state government at the nick of time had been a major challenge to the state government, causing a lull in the speed with which it wanted to eliminate the bandits from the state.
It was further gathered that, despite the available information provided by the forest guards about the locations of the bandits in the thick forest, efforts by the state government to get the actionable support of the Air Force and military in neutralising the bandits according to Sunday Vanguard are being sabotaged as they’re not always forthcoming.
“This therefore makes it easy for the bandits with superior weapons and information from the local saboteurs to overrun the forest guards and even the police officers at strategic times”, a local in Oke-Ode who pleaded not to be named said.
A security expert, who also craved anonymity, told Sunday Vanguard in an interview that the recent security lopsidedness in Nigeria whereby the police, army, and even Air Force are not under the state government, but federal, at times like this make all the actionable efforts of the state government to effectively fight criminalities a nullity.
Governor AbdulRazaq, after a security meeting on Tuesday in Ilorin, vowed that he will fight insecurity with every resource at his disposal, assuring that Kwara will not be a hiding place for criminals.
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