The head of Woro community in Kwara State, Umar Bio Salihu, has said armed bandits operated in the area for about 10 hours before security forces arrived, leaving dozens dead and several villages destroyed.
Salihu told ARISE Television on Thursday that the attackers began their operation around 5pm, but soldiers only arrived at about 3am the following day.
“I called after 5pm, but they did not come until about 3am. That was from 5pm to about 3am. That is about 10 hours. The military did not attack them. The bandits had gone when the military came,” he said.
He added that there was no air interdiction during the attack.
According to Salihu, the community had been left vulnerable after soldiers previously stationed there were withdrawn following an earlier assault on the military base.
“Initially, we had a military base there. We had about 15 soldiers there. About three to five months ago, they attacked the soldiers. Since then, they evacuated them. We have no security presence in that area. That gave them the opportunity to come anytime, enter anytime and do whatever they like,” he said.
Salihu identified the attackers as members of the Mamuda terrorist group, saying the assault followed the community’s rejection of the group’s ideology.
“Our people are not ready to take that ideology. I think that is what made them angry to come and attack the communities,” he stated.
He dismissed claims that the killings were religiously motivated, noting that most of the victims were Muslims.
“The people they killed are mostly Muslims. About 95 per cent are Muslims and five per cent are Christians. They are not all Muslim, but the Muslims are the majority,” Salihu said.
The village head also revealed that a threat letter, allegedly sent by the attackers, had earlier been reported to security agencies, raising concerns that sensitive information may have been compromised.
“When they brought the letter, they brought it directly to me. That night, I sent the letter to the DSS in Kiama. The following day, I took the letter myself to the Emirate Council. They photocopied it. In that process, I think they lost the appropriate contact. When the security agents went on patrol after the letter, the terrorists became angry,” he explained.
Salihu said at least 75 people had been buried, adding that the death toll could rise as bodies were still being recovered from the bush. He also disclosed that several villages were razed during the attack, including his own house.
“They burned almost half of the villages, including my house,” he said.
The Kwara State Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, visited the affected communities and ordered the deployment of security personnel, Salihu added.
The attacks in Kwara are part of a wave of assaults across north-central and north-west Nigeria, where rural communities have repeatedly faced attacks by bandits and extremist groups despite ongoing military operations.
Reports indicate that in the past four weeks alone, hundreds of people have been killed or abducted in Niger, Kaduna, Kwara, Katsina, Sokoto, and Zamfara states, highlighting growing pressure on the Federal Government’s security strategy.
Meanwhile, President Bola Tinubu approved the immediate deployment of an Army battalion to the area under a new counter-offensive operation, as troops and forest guards moved into the affected communities to restore security.
