…Tinubu Orders Army Battalion to Kaiama, Launches Operation Savannah Shield
By Abu Adamu
Jihadists have been identified as the perpetrators of a gruesome mass killing in Woro village, Kaiama Local Government Area of Kwara State, where scores of residents were rounded up, blindfolded, and executed in one of the deadliest terror attacks recorded in the state in recent years.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) put the death toll at 162 as of Wednesday afternoon, while the Kwara State Government confirmed that at least 75 persons were killed in the Tuesday attack. Local sources, however, said the number of victims could be higher.
The Secretary of the Kwara State chapter of the Red Cross, Babaomo Ayodeji, said field reports from the affected communities confirmed 162 fatalities, with search and recovery efforts still ongoing. A local politician from the area told Reuters that the figure could be as high as 170.
According to eyewitness accounts, the attackers stormed Woro village and nearby settlements, rounded up residents, tied their hands behind their backs, and summarily executed them. Sa’idu Ahmed, a politician from the Kaiama axis, said the assailants also set homes and shops ablaze, forcing many villagers to flee into surrounding bushes despite sustaining gunshot wounds.
“I am in the village along with military personnel, sorting dead bodies and searching nearby areas,” Ahmed said, adding that several residents, including the village’s traditional ruler, were still missing as of Wednesday.
Kwara State Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq confirmed that jihadists were responsible for the killings, describing the massacre as a brutal punishment meted out to local Muslims who refused to submit to extremist indoctrination.
“They were killed simply for rejecting a strange and violent doctrine,” the governor said while commiserating with the affected communities. He disclosed that the injured were taken to the General Hospital, with critical cases referred to the Teaching Hospital for advanced care.
AbdulRazaq condemned the attack as a cowardly expression of frustration by terrorist cells facing sustained pressure from ongoing counterterrorism operations in parts of the state. He extended condolences to the people of Woro and Nuku communities, particularly families who lost loved ones in the assault.
In a swift response, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu ordered the immediate deployment of an army battalion to Kaiama Local Government Area to prosecute counter-offensives against the terrorists. The operation, codenamed Operation Savannah Shield, is to be led by a newly deployed military command tasked with securing vulnerable communities and dismantling terror cells operating in the area.
President Tinubu condemned the attack as cowardly and beastly, expressing outrage that defenceless villagers were targeted in what he described as a doomed campaign of terror. He said the attackers were heartless for choosing soft targets and killing residents who rejected violent extremism.
“It is commendable that the community members, even though Muslims, refused to be conscripted into a weird belief that promotes violence over peace and dialogue,” the President said.
He directed close collaboration between federal and state authorities to provide immediate relief to survivors and ensure that those responsible for the atrocities are tracked down and brought to justice. Tinubu also prayed for the repose of the souls of the victims and condoled with the families of the deceased, as well as the people and government of Kwara State.