Kwara Groups Demand Rescue of 176 Abductees, Warn Kaiama and Baruten Risk Becoming Insurgency Hub
By Victor Idajil
Two Kwara-based groups are calling on the federal and state governments to urgently rescue 176 people abducted during an attack on Woro community in Kaiama Local Government Area on February 3.
The Kaiama Development Association and the Batombu Unity and Development Initiative raised the alarm on Saturday during a press conference in Abuja, warning that insecurity in Kaiama and Baruten LGAs has reached a breaking point and could slide into full-scale insurgency if not addressed.
Speaking for both groups, Alhaji Umar Gunu, President of KDA Abuja Branch, said the region has recorded more than 500 deaths since January 2026, with thousands displaced and communities repeatedly attacked by terrorists and armed bandits.
“We have chosen to address you directly because our communities can no longer afford to remain silent and invisible. Today, however, we speak not only of neglect but of an unfolding humanitarian and security catastrophe that has devastated our communities,” Gunu said.
He noted that Kaiama and Baruten make up more than half of Kwara’s landmass and are among the state’s most productive farming areas. Yet, he said, they remain the only two LGAs without direct road access to Ilorin.
According to him, the bad road network is now a security problem. “While security forces struggle to reach affected areas quickly, armed groups navigate the difficult terrain with relative ease, enabling them to strike repeatedly and retreat into the forests before help can arrive. Better roads are no longer simply a development issue; they are an urgent security imperative.”
Gunu recalled the February 3 attack on Woro and nearby Nuku, where gunmen killed over 200 people and abducted more than 170, including women, nursing mothers and children. Nearly six months later, he said families still have no information on their loved ones and have seen no sustained rescue operation.
“The attack on Woro remains one of the darkest chapters in our recent history... Nearly six months on, their families still wait, uncertain whether their loved ones are alive or dead, while the trail to their rescue appears to have gone cold.”
He said the violence has since spread to Tungan Maje, Kemanji, Tungan Aboki, Karonji, Sekugbe, Kenugbe and Yashikira. In Yashikira, armed men reportedly invaded the Emir’s palace and abducted his wives and children.
Gunu said the attacks have crippled the economy. Markets have collapsed, businesses have closed, children are out of school, and healthcare is hard to access. “Hardly a day or two now passes without our communities suffering one attack or another. The socio-economic fabric of our communities is steadily unravelling,” he added.
The groups warned that the crisis has moved beyond banditry. Gunu said intelligence from locals suggests links between some attackers and jihadist networks operating in Nigeria and across the Sahel.
“What our people are living through today is a hybrid threat: the calculated, ideologically driven violence of jihadist networks operating side by side with the opportunistic criminality of armed bandits,” he said.
“Our situation can no longer be treated as an isolated local security problem. It bears disturbing similarities to the early stages of the insurgency that engulfed North-East Nigeria and banditry in the North-West. Unless urgent, coordinated, and decisive action is taken, there is a real danger that this region could become another entrenched theatre of violent extremism.”
Gunu also expressed concern that politics ahead of the 2027 elections could push the crisis further down the agenda. “We are also deeply worried that, as campaigns and electioneering for the 2027 general elections gather pace, our people risk being entirely forgotten. No election cycle, and no political calculation, should be allowed to bury the crisis unfolding in Kaiama and Baruten.”
The groups listed urgent demands: rescue the 176 Woro abductees, secure the release of the Emir of Yashikira’s wives and children, dismantle terrorist camps around the Borgu Game Reserve, provide aid to displaced persons, rebuild destroyed communities, and rehabilitate roads linking Kaiama and Baruten to Ilorin.
“We therefore call on the federal government, the Government of Kwara State, the National Assembly, the security services, humanitarian agencies, and the international community to act with urgency,” Gunu said.
“The people of Kaiama and Baruten are not asking for special treatment. We are asking for what every Nigerian is entitled to: security, dignity, equal citizenship, and the protection guaranteed by our Constitution. Our communities should not remain invisible because they are remote. The time to act is now, before more lives are lost, more communities disappear, and more of our people are forgotten.”
