By Desire Emmanuel
Outrage has trailed the killing of some residents of Wowo community in Kaiama Local Government Area of Kwara State by gunmen. While official sources put the death toll at 40, some residents insisted the number of those killed was higher, putting the death toll at 162.
A Red Cross official also told the Agence France Presse (AFP) on Wednesday that those killed were more than 160.
The attack late on Tuesday came after the military recently carried out operations in the area against what it called “terrorist elements.”
“Reports said that the death toll now stands at 162, as the search for more bodies continues,” Babaomo Ayodeji, Kwara State secretary of the Red Cross, told AFP, updating an earlier toll of 67.
Earlier, a local lawmaker in the Kaiama region, Sa’idu Baba Ahmed, told AFP that between “35 and 40 dead bodies were counted” from the attack on Tuesday evening.
The gunmen invaded Woro village around 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday and set “shops and the king’s palace ablaze,” said Ahmed.
He added that the traditional king’s whereabouts was unknown. The king was named by the Red Cross official as Alhaji Salihu Umar.
Kwara State governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, condemned the attack as “a cowardly expression of frustration by terrorist cells following the ongoing counterterrorism campaigns in parts of the state.”
The Nigerian military has intensified operations against jihadists and armed bandits. The army regularly claims to have killed huge numbers of fighters.
Last month, the military said it had launched “sustained coordinated offensive operations against terrorist elements” in Kwara state and achieved notable successes.
Reacting to the incident, former governor of the state, Bukola Saraki, described the incident as “a national disaster.”
Saraki on his X handle wrote: “Yesterday’s killing of over 100 people in Woro community, Kaiama Local Government Area, is a national disaster. What we are witnessing in parts of Kwara State—particularly in the northern and southern senatorial districts—has gone beyond the capacity of the state government and now requires decisive, direct federal intervention.
“What we require now to stop this mass destruction of lives and properties in our state and to restore harmony is the decisive and direct intervention from President Tinubu. We call on the Commander-in-Chief to direct the General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the Second Mechanised Division, Ibadan, to second his men to deploy into the troubled districts of Kwara State fully and to establish a base in the affected areas.
“There is also the need for other security agencies to work together and have a strong presence across our state. That is the only way we can deter these assailants. The insurgents who are running away from the firepower of the security agencies in other states in the North Central zone should not be allowed to find a comfort zone in Kwara State.”
