Bandits launched a violent overnight attack on Igbonla community in the Irepodun Local Government Area of Kwara State, abducting several residents in a coordinated raid that took place late on Sunday, 2 November.
According to a community source who requested anonymity, the gunmen invaded the area around midnight, firing shots into the air to create panic before seizing multiple villagers and fleeing into nearby forests.
‘The attack happened on Sunday night. We don’t yet know the exact number of people kidnapped, but several residents were taken away’, the source said.
The assault has left the community gripped by fear, forcing many residents to flee to neighbouring villages in search of safety.
Security forces, including personnel from the Nigerian Police Force and local vigilante groups, it was gathered, have been deployed to comb the area in pursuit of the attackers and to facilitate the rescue of those kidnapped.
As of the time of this report, both the Kwara State Police Command and the Kwara State Government have yet to issue official statements on the incident.
The attack is the latest in a string of violent crimes in Kwara South, where banditry and kidnappings have been on the rise, particularly in remote settlements.
In a related development, motorists in Osi and surrounding communities in the Ekiti Local Government Area of Kwara State have accused police operatives of extortion. The officers, deployed to combat insecurity in the area, were alleged to have turned roadblocks into illegal toll points.
The policemen, it was learned, were stationed with an Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC), meant for anti-banditry patrols but have instead been using it to intimidate travellers.
‘They are assigned to fight kidnappers, but they are here collecting money from motorists’, a driver lamented.
‘There is no day the kidnappers do not kill people in this area. Obo-Aiyegunle is there, Eruku is there — you don’t go there to face the terrorists, but you are here in the city collecting money from people’.
