Residents of Woro community in Kaiama Local Government Area of Kwara did not go to sleep last Tuesday night knowing that they would wake up to mass graves.

At dusk, the village was still alive with familiar routines — farmers returning from their fields, shop owners exchanging banter, families preparing evening meals. By dawn, Woro had been reduced to ashes, tears and silence. A group of jihadists stormed the village and went on a killing spree.

What followed was a horror too heavy to contemplate. There were mass burials, bodies still being recovered days after, and a once-thriving community brought to its knees. This is the story of Woro: how a quiet village became a killing field, and how survivors are left to live with memories that may never heal. By Wednesday afternoon, the death toll stood at 162 while many were still missing and dozens others abducted.

Forty-eight hours after the attack, the community was desolate as many of the residents who fled their homes to avoid being killed were yet to return. Charred houses stood where homes once breathed with laughter, and streets were emptied of life while soldiers and forest guards had taken over the community.

A local who preferred not to be mentioned told Saturday Vanguard that the bandits who were not strangers to the community had visited Woro a few times in the past under the guise of coming to preach to members of the community, to renounce the Nigeria constitution and embrace their own ideology.

It was also gathered that early last month, the bandits reportedly wrote a letter to the village head of Woro, Alhaji Umar Saliu Tanko informing him that they were coming to preach and that he should communicate the information to the residents to assemble.

Already, the village head who had been uncomfortable with the previous sermons in the community reported the communication to the security agencies. A local government staff who craved anonymity said, “on the appointed day, soldiers and other security agents had assembled at the venue with the intention of arresting the bandits for interrogation on the toxic nature of their planned sermon.

“Expectedly, the bandits visited Woro community on the fateful day, but on sighting the security agents from afar, they retreated and from that day, they planned the invasion. It was further gathered that after this aborted meeting, the bandits sent a voice note to the village head, expressing their anger accusing him of trying to set them up for arrest by the soldiers. They then vowed to wipe out the residents of the community any time soon.

The village head reportedly went and informed the security agents of the voice note, but nothing was done to prevent the invasion as no particular date was mentioned until the Tuesday evening attack.

It was gathered that over fifty bandits invaded Woro community around 5pm on Tuesday killing every resident in sight and indiscriminately setting houses, shops and offices on fire.

According to a local, “The bandits know the terrain, so from one street to another they went killing the people and in some cases they entered the houses to kill while they also burnt shops and houses with the people inside.

“Though the official casualty figure according to the governor and the local government chairman is 75 because those were the corpses that were physically counted, there were others who were killed in the bushes, while others were burnt to death beyond recognition inside their houses and shops. As we speak (Thursday 12:30 pm) we are still recovering more corpses after the mass burial of Wednesday”, she said.

Saturday Vanguard also gathered that the bandits returned to Woro community in the early hours of the following day, laid ambush and further killed several residents who were going for early morning prayer in the mosque.

Grave diggers reportedly had hectic time digging graves one after the other and were crying while burying the remains of their loved ones.

Shortly after the Chairman of the local government, Alhaji Abubabar Abdullahi visited the affected communities Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq who was outside the state on official assignment immediately returned home and visited Kaiama at 7:30pm same-day.

While addressing the governor’s entourage on Wednesday, Chairman of Kaiama Local Government Alhaji Abubabar Abdullahi Danladi described the incident as unfortunate.

According to him, “It’s disheartening, what we saw was like a horror film. There were still several corpses in the bushes. They were ambushing our people, and killing them, we have counted seventy-five corpses so far.

“It’s unfortunate that there are informants in our midst, because as soon as they entered the community, some of them went straight to the house of the village head, killed his children and also used his car to take away his younger wife and family members.’’

He added that, “The vigilantes wanted to fight back by shooting them but their guns could not have any effect on the bandits who then went after them and burnt them to ashes. I’m a medical personnel, but I have never seen the magnitude of such horrific corpses in my life,” lamented the local government chairman

In his address, Emir of Kaiama, Alhaji Omar Muazu lamented that the majority of the youths and other residents in the area have become informants to the bandits thereby compounding the security challenges in the local government.

He said, “it’s very unfortunate that we lost a very large number of people. I think this is one of the largest massacres in Nigeria at this time. In our account as at this morning, 75 victims were identified and given mass burial. This excludes those who were taken away, and some corpses that are still in the bush. So the figures are likely to go up,” added the monarch.

“We appreciate the governor for coming to commiserate with us. If you go to Woro now, everybody has deserted the whole place. We lost a large number of people. A lot of people have been kidnapped, mostly women and children.”

The monarch therefore called for the establishment of a military base around Woro to provide security in the area so as to prevent future attacks.

Emir of Kaiama also expressed concern that criminals were hibernating inside the large forest of the National Park and expressed happiness that the government has taken action on it.

Meanwhile, Arewa Discussion Group (ADG) has condemned the alarming resurgence of terrorist attacks across several states in Northern Nigeria. A statement by the Chairman of ADG, Alhaji Maisudan Muhammed Bello (Tafidan Dutse), said, “We are horrified by the recent wave of attacks and abductions plaguing communities in Kwara, Katsina, Kaduna, and other parts of the region.

“Particular reference is made to the devastating attack on Tuesday, February 3, 2026, in Woro and Nuku communities of Kaiama Local Government Area, Kwara State, where reports indicate over forty lives were tragically lost, and several houses and sundry property burnt.

“We also note with grave concern the continuing incidents in areas like Faskari in Katsina and Kajuru in Kaduna States. It is especially shameful and a monumental failure that local governments and communities, which recently entered into a truce with these criminal elements having been failed by the state, are witnessing such brazen attacks.

“This so-called truce has been exposed as a farce, a naive concession to anarchy that has only emboldened the perpetrators. This approach is not a solution; it is an abdication of responsibility.

“The ADG believes the time for mere condemnation is long past. While we unequivocally condemn these acts of madness, we must now be as creative and decisive as possible in ending this scourge. We must move beyond rhetoric to concrete, effective, and sustainable action.

“Therefore, the ADG reiterates the urgent call made in our previous statements on the subject where we suggested immediate and total overhaul of the security strategy in the region. (Saturday Vanguard)

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