Kwara youths block highway in protest over church attack

Youths in Eruku, Ekiti Local Government Area of Kwara State, on Wednesday barricaded the Ilorin–Kabba highway in protest over Tuesday night’s deadly bandit attack on the community, accusing security agencies of abandoning residents during the assault.

The demonstration, which began early in the day, caused a major gridlock along the busy road. When visited the area around 1:30 pm, dozens of trailers and commercial vehicles heading toward Kogi State were stranded as protesters lit bonfires and used stones and logs to block the expressway.

Residents said the attack, which occurred during a church programme, lasted almost an hour without any response from security operatives stationed in the area.

One of the protesters, Adesuyi Joshua, lamented what he described as a complete security failure.

“We have soldiers around this place. We also have a police station, but nothing was done throughout the attack.

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“They took my wife and our granddaughter, who were in the church, along with about 30 other people. At first, we thought the gunshots were knockouts, but the sound changed. By the time we mobilised ourselves to confront the attackers, it was too late.”

Another youth leader in the town, Shola Peters Adetona, accused the police of complicity, insisting that officers failed to respond despite the community’s investment in their welfare.

“These are the same police officers the town supported; we built houses for the DPO and men. When we needed them most, they failed us.

“Instead of joining us to pursue the bandits, they stopped us. The Inspector General needs to probe the Eruku division. All they do here is harass young boys and tag them as Yahoo boys or cultists.”

A member of the local vigilante group, who spoke on condition of anonymity, also raised suspicions of foul play.

“It was on Sunday they took the forest guards and some of our men for training, and two days later the bandits attacked. This is similar to what happened in Oke Ode when rifles were collected from vigilantes before an attack,” he said.
“The government must probe this. It doesn’t look like a coincidence.

The Commissioner of Police, CP Adekimi Ojo, who visited Eruku on Wednesday alongside the Kwara State Director of the Department of State Services, appealed for calm and promised a decisive response.

The CP said additional personnel would be deployed to reinforce the Eruku Division. He also announced plans to station an Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) in the community.

“We will bring the perpetrators to justice. We are deploying more men and resources to secure this area,” he assured the protesters.

The traditional ruler of the town, Iowa Eruku Oba Busari Arinde Oyediran Olanrewaju, described the attack as saddening but urged residents to avoid taking the law into their own hands.

“I want to appeal to our youths not to take matters into their hands. Allow security agencies to do their work.

“We need more personnel and more checkpoints because many of the bandits chased from Babanla and Baba Sango forests are hiding around this axis.”

The attack on Eruku is the latest in a series of violent incidents in Kwara’s border communities, raising fresh concerns over insecurity in the Middle Belt corridor.