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This story written by Abdulrosheed Fadipe originally appeared on Global Voices on February 24, 2026.
The residents of Woro and Nuku villages in Kaiama Local Government Area of Kwara State went to bed on the night of February 2nd, expecting the next day to be like any other. This was not the case. At 5 pm on February 3rd, gunmen carried out a deadly attack against their villages, terrorizing the community for nearly 24 hours, until 3 pm on February 4th. The gunmen killed about 200 villagers, abducted many others, looted shops, and razed numerous houses.
According to an Amnesty International post on X:
Villagers of the affected Kwara state communities are still searching and finding dead bodies, with hands tied from behind and slit throats. Some were shot while tied at the hands and feet. Gory images show corpses on the streets in pools of blood. Several people were also abducted.
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Nigerian President Bola Tinubu condemned the attacks via a press statement released by Special Adviser to the President, Bayo Onanuga. Officials identified the Boko Haram sect as the terror group behind the attack.
While the Emir of Kaiama, Alhaji Muaza Sheu Omar (a traditional ruler in Kwara State, Nigeria), told the Kwara State governor that the attackers are followers of Mahmuda, a splinter group of the Boko Haram sect that emerged in North-central Nigeria last year. Followers of Mahmuda reportedly preach a fringe Islamic ideology and attack people who reject their doctrine.
The deadly terror group is believed to be hiding out in the Kainji Lake National Park. According to reports, this group has been carrying out a series of deadly attacks against rural communities in Niger and Nigeria.
There was a report that the leader of the group, Abubakar Abba Mahmuda, was arrested by Nigeria’s Department of State Service (DSS) in 2025. However, the arrest of their leader has not demoralized the group. Their recent attacks have shown that they are becoming bolder every day, and if the government does not provide adequate security, the group will overrun many communities in the region.
The attacks on villages and communities across Kwara State, and north-central Nigeria at large, have been going on for years. Amnesty International published a report on a series of attacks and abductions that happened across the region in 2020. In 2025, Global Voices reported about the wave of attacks, kidnappings, and killings that communities in north-central Nigeria were facing.
The wave of attacks has continued in 2026. Just on February 3rd, 2026, three deadly attacks happened in Nigeria. Aside from the Kaiama attack, suspected armed bandits killed 19 villagers in Doma town in Tafoki district of Faskari Local Government in Katsina State.
Armed bandits also killed a police officer and four villagers at Abande Community in Kwande Local Government of Benue State on the same day. On January 18, 2026, a total of 163 worshippers were kidnapped during Sunday services from two churches in Kaduna state.
The governor of Kwara State, Alhaji Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, in the company of service chiefs and government officials, paid a condolence visit to Woro on Thursday, February 5th. He said 75 Muslims were massacred because they rejected extremist ideology. In his statement at the palace of the Emir of Kaiama, the governor said:
We are very sad. We are here today to commiserate with your Royal Highness over the death of 75 of your subjects. May Allah grant them Al-jannah Firdaus. Your Emirate is versatile and from the information we have been getting, these victims were massacred because they refused to succumb to a strange Islamic doctrine… This is different from what we used to see, where subjects were being kidnapped for ransom. This was a pure massacre. We commiserate with you.
The governor said the insecurity is difficult to tackle because it goes beyond Kwara state and stretches across communities around the Kainji National Park in Niger State. He promised to increase security in the area and appointed a seven-person committee to provide humanitarian support for the victims.
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Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu also ordered the deployment of an army battalion to Kaiama. According to a press statement released by the spokesperson to the president, Bayo Onanuga:
It’s commendable that the community members, even though Muslims, refused to be conscripted into a weird belief that promoted violence over peace and dialogue.
Security experts and human rights organizations have linked the cause of the attacks to porous borders, a reactive security approach, and the spillover of extremist groups.
Amnesty International blamed the government for the “stunning security failure” in rural communities in the north. The human rights organization said its findings indicate that the terror group had been sending warning letters and pamphlets to the affected communities in Kaiama for over five months and as recently as two weeks ago. In their post on X page, they said the government has neglected rural communities, which has made them vulnerable to terror attacks. The organization urged the Nigerian authorities to effectively investigate the attacks and take additional actions to protect the lives of the people living in the area.
Currently, the government is making efforts to provide support for the victims and restore calm and order to the area. The president has launched Operation Savanna Shield and commanded the new military command deployed to the area to “checkmate the barbaric terrorists and protect defenceless communities.”
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