Survivors of the deadly terrorist attack on Woro and Nuku communities in Kaiama Local Government Area of Kwara State have recounted how the assailants lured victims by exploiting religious trust, including using a call to prayer before opening fire.
It was a typical harmattan afternoon last Tuesday. The sun hung hazily in the sky, the air dry and dust-laden, as farmers returned from their fields and traders prepared to close for the day. For a group of young men, including 26-year-old schoolteacher Umar Bio Kabir, it was time for their routine football game.
The calm was abruptly shattered when a long convoy of armed men on motorcycles rode into Woro.
Residents said there was no doubt about who the invaders were or why they had come.
Moving swiftly, the attackers selected their targets and opened fire, sending the market, football field, and surrounding streets into chaos as residents fled in panic.
Kabir ran alongside his friends and escaped the gunfire, but several of the young men who had been playing football with him were not as fortunate and were killed during the attack.
“God said I would survive, otherwise I would have been among the dead,” Kabir said.
Another survivor, Razaq Abdulazeez, said he was returning home when he encountered residents fleeing the village.
“When I realised what was happening, I ran into my house, gathered my family, and we escaped into the bush, far away from the community,” he said.
Abdulazeez added that some residents who could not flee climbed trees in a desperate attempt to hide.
According to an agency report, the attackers in one of the communities entered a mosque, announced the call to prayer, and shot worshippers who responded. Woro and Nuku are predominantly Muslim communities.
Survivors said the attackers fired sporadically for about 10 hours.
Government and security agencies later confirmed that the gunmen were terrorists who carried out the attack after residents rejected their “strange” ideology.
About 75 victims were reportedly buried in the aftermath of the massacre.
At least 50 survivors are currently receiving treatment in hospitals for varying degrees of injury. The Senator representing Kwara North, Sadiq Umar, has visited some of the wounded.
Scores of residents have fled the affected communities with whatever belongings they could salvage, relocating to neighbouring towns to seek safety and rebuild their lives.
By Thursday, only about 20 men remained in the villages, tasked with the grim responsibility of burying the dead, as the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) deployed a response team to assess the situation and coordinate relief efforts.
NEMA said it had delivered food and non-food relief items to the affected communities. In a related move, Kwara State Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq announced the establishment of a seven-member committee to coordinate humanitarian support for victims.
The committee is chaired by Alhaji Ahmed Kiwozi, a former lawmaker from Kaiama Local Government Area, and includes Vice Chairman of the Local Government Council, Aisha Abubakar Sadiq; Abubakar Mora; Woro Village Head, Umar Bio Saliu; representatives of the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), the Kwara State Social Investment Programme (KWASSIP), and the Office of the Secretary to the State Government.
The committee has four weeks to engage community leaders, assess survivors’ needs, and coordinate rebuilding efforts.
United States Condemns Attack
Meanwhile, the United States has condemned the killings, describing them as horrific.
“The United States condemns the horrific attack in Kwara State, Nigeria, which claimed the lives of more than 160 people, with the death toll still unconfirmed and many unaccounted for,” the US Mission in Nigeria said in a statement on X.
The statement expressed condolences to affected families and welcomed President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s directive to deploy security forces to protect the communities and provide humanitarian assistance, while ensuring the perpetrators are brought to justice.
NEMA Intensifies Response
The Director-General of NEMA, Zubaida Umar, directed the Agency’s Minna Operations Office, which oversees Kwara State, to temporarily relocate to the affected areas for a detailed on-the-ground assessment.
The assessment, NEMA said, is being carried out in collaboration with SEMA and relevant security agencies to ensure an effective and coordinated response.
Lai Mohammed Condoles With Kwara
Former Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, also expressed condolences to the government and people of Kwara State, sympathising with bereaved families and praying for strength and comfort.
He commended the affected communities for their resilience and praised President Tinubu for ordering the deployment of an army battalion to Kaiama Local Government Area to neutralise the terrorists.
In honour of the victims, Mohammed announced the postponement of his planned donation of copies of his book, Headlines & Soundbites: Media Moments That Defined an Administration, to tertiary institutions in the state, saying a new date would be announced later.
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