The siege of terrorists in the North-central part of Nigeria, characterised by serial kidnappings and the killings of citizens, appears to have put the security chiefs at their wits’ end. On the 3rd of February, an armed group invaded Woro and Nukku communities in Kaiama Local Government Area of Kwara State and kidnapped 176 persons, most of whom are women and children. This was after they had left the blood trails of over 100 killed persons and the smouldering ruins of houses and shops.
What is deeply disturbing is the fact that intelligence earlier provided by the village head about the imminence of the attack to the State Security Service (SSS) was leaked to the terror group. Few things can be more embarrassing to President Tinubu, who had, late last year, declared a state of emergency on security in the country.
A media report, corroborated by many sources, says that the mass murderers had written to the two communities of their intention to come and preach to them, what is believed to be an extremist or Islamist doctrine, which they had refused. The emir, Biu Salihu, had taken the group’s letter to the State Security Service (SSS) in the area to lodge a formal complaint. This had incensed the terror group, on finding out about the complaint through a leak.
So daring were these felons that they struck the communities shortly afterwards, around 5 p.m. on 3 February, finished their heinous operations and left without any trace. What a shameful security incapacitation of the Nigerian State! A resident, Mohammed Abdulkareem, told Al Jazeera, “Here we buried 120 people,” and in another burial site, the remains of 23 Christians are said to have been interred. Among those killed were two children of the emir. His wife and three children were abducted. The whereabouts of the traditional ruler remain unknown, and he might have equally been abducted or killed.
The charred remains of corpses assault the sight of villagers who comb the bushes as they seek to account for missing persons. Among the dead were students who had just returned from school, a school principal, and a headmistress.
Yet, this was a tragedy that the Kwara State Government played down (as the police often do), with its claim that just between 20 and 30 persons were kidnapped. The Al-Sunnah terror group, which claimed responsibility for the attack, released a video last week that put a lie to the official narrative. It showed pictures of 176 abductees from Woro. Disdainfully, it stated, “Kwara State Government lied to Nigeria and to the whole world.”
Amnesty International, which is appalled, as are Nigerians, described the disaster as a “stunning security failure.” It could not have been put better. However, the country has been experiencing this sort of let-down, which, in PREMIUM TIMES’ view, is at the heart of the unrelenting mass abductions and killings of Nigerians by non-state actors.
In November 2025, a similar intelligence breach headlined the kidnapping of 25 students of Girls Comprehensive Secondary School, Maga, in Danko/Wasagu Local Government Area of Kebbi State. Governor Mohammed Idris of the state, who had passed on the intelligence to the SSS, held an emergency Security Council meeting that resolved to provide round-the-clock protection for the students. He viewed the whole affair as “clear sabotage.” The kidnapping of 300 pupils of Government Science Secondary School (GSSS), Kankara, Katsina State, in 2020, was also a result of not acting on intelligence.
The alleged SSS leakage of intelligence in the Kaiama incident is a clear and present danger. President Tinubu, as the commander-in-chief, should ensure that the fifth columnists in our security services are fished out. He has often called on Nigerians to provide information or intelligence to help security operatives, so that they could be well protected in turn. But for this information to now become bayonets to be turned against the people by terrorists is an oxymoron that is inexcusable.
As the government continues to cover up those undermining Nigeria’s counterintelligence operations, these enemies of the state have audaciously formed a trade union known as the Nigeria Terrorists Association (NTA), evident in their recent letters to four communities in Kaiama Local Government Area LGA – Aho, Dunshigogo, Ira and Inaja – of their resolve to return to wreak havoc in these communities.
