Forest Routes Fuelling South-West Kidnappings
Forests and porous border corridors stretching across Oyo, Osun, Ogun and Ekiti states have become major infiltration routes for bandits and kidnappers entering the South-West.
Credible sources, including hunters, operatives of the Oodua Peoples Congress and local residents, disclosed that armed groups fleeing military operations in the North were exploiting weak surveillance across forest reserves and boundary communities to launch attacks, abduct residents and escape undetected.
Findings further revealed that the Old Oyo National Park linking Oyo and Kwara states, as well as forests connecting Osun and Ekiti through Imesi-Ile, had become major security threats in the South-West.
According to security operatives, many suspected bandits had been dislodged from the areas.
They lamented that the vast woodland belts supporting farming, hunting and other economic activities had become difficult terrains for security agencies to effectively police, thereby creating opportunities for criminal groups involved in kidnapping, cattle rustling and other violent crimes.
The development comes amid rising cases of kidnappings and attacks in parts of Oyo, Ogun, Ondo, Osun and Ekiti states in recent months.
On May 15, bandits attacked three schools in Esinele, Yamota and Alawusa in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State, killing teachers and abducting 47 pupils and teachers.
The incident has heightened concerns over the growing activities of armed groups in rural communities across the region.
The attackers reportedly escaped through the Old Oyo National Park, with local sources alleging that the vast forest corridor had become a major route for criminal groups operating within the region.
Findings showed that the Old Oyo National Park in Oyo State covers about 2,512 square kilometres or 251,200 hectares.
The park is about 160 kilometres from Ilorin, the Kwara State capital.
It was gathered that forests around parts of Oriire, Ogbomoso, Kishi and adjoining communities form part of a larger vegetation corridor stretching across Oyo, Kwara, Osun and parts of northern Nigeria, thereby providing multiple escape routes for armed groups operating within the region.
Security operatives, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the criminals had been taking advantage of the dense and interconnected forests stretching through the Kainji National Park in Niger State, the Old Oyo National Park axis and the Gbugbu/Babanla forest in Kwara State to launch attacks and move abducted victims between locations.
The Defence Headquarters linked the Oyo school kidnapping incident to terrorists of the JAS group displaced from other parts of the country due to intensified military operations nationwide.
“The recent incidence of kidnapping in Oyo State was clearly perpetrated by terrorists of the JAS group that have been dislodged from other parts of the country due to high-intensity operations being conducted all over,” the Director, Defence Media Operations, Maj. Gen. Michael Onoja, said in a recent statement.
The Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland, Gani Adams, said the Old Oyo National Park constituted a serious threat to regional security.
He said the park, which shares proximity with Niger State, had long served as a strategic entry point for armed groups operating across the region.
Adams disclosed that he led members of the Oodua Peoples Congress, hunters and vigilantes in 2020 to dislodge bandits in the forest.
He, however, said the groups had returned to the same forest corridors, taking advantage of what he described as weak coordination in forest surveillance and border security.
“The Oyo National Park, at a particular area, is just about 60 kilometres to Niger State, and terrorists have been in that forest since 2020. We dislodged them when the people of Kishi invited members of the OPC, local hunters and vigilantes to flush them out. We recovered about four AK-47 rifles and some vehicles from them and handed the items over to the police area commander in the place. After that operation, kidnapping incidents in Kishi, Oriire and Ago-Are reduced.
“It is a very thick forest, and the terrorists have returned there and started terrorising our people. They know the terrain more than residents. They can trek from that forest to Sokoto State, both day and night. They have chased our hunters out of the forest.
“Most of the forests in the South-West, where these bandits operate, are reserved areas. These terrorists are infiltrating the South-West through the Niger forest,” Adams said.
Adams had earlier raised the alarm that 40 of the 164LGAs in the South-West had been infiltrated by terrorists.
According to him, the dense and interconnected nature of the forests had made it easier for armed groups to move across state boundaries undetected and establish hideouts.
He blamed governors in the region for what he described as a slow and reactive response to the growing security threats.
Adams said the spread of armed groups could have been contained earlier if governors in the region had taken more proactive steps to strengthen surveillance in forests and rural border communities.
“If the South-West governments allow collaboration with South-West Security Stakeholders made up of 14 groups, which we put together over 14 years ago, to work with the government, we will be able to flush out the terrorists from all our forests.
“The situation is so bad that some villages around these troubled areas have been deserted. Our governors should be blamed for the insecurity in the region. They are not proactive and have politicised the issue of security,” he added.
The Vice-Principal of Community Grammar School, Olokoto, in Oriire LGA, Oyegun Sangotoye, said the Old Oyo National Park in the council area bordered Olounsogo, Irepo and Oorelope LGAs.
He alleged that the park and surrounding bushes had served as a haven for criminals for many years.
“It is a forest reserve acquired by the government since 1976. The landmass stretches over 70 kilometres in length, breadth and diagonal. It was acquired by the military administration of the late Gen. Murtala Muhammed before February 13, 1976. It harbours crimes and criminality. It ends at Oriire Local Government.
“The problem is that hunters are not allowed to hunt there, and farming is also prohibited. This allows criminals to hide and strategise for their heinous acts. The restriction has made the forest deadly.
“My advice to the state and Federal Governments is to open up the area for residential or farming purposes. The government should dispose of it by allowing people to build houses, farm or establish tertiary institutions there. It is good to preserve forest reserves as heritage for future generations, but with the current insecurity, the government should allow farming activities there or dispose of them,” Sangotoye added.
Meanwhile, residents of Ogun State have identified forest routes through which bandits reportedly infiltrate the state to perpetrate crimes.
Speaking on the recent rise in kidnapping cases in the state, the National Coordinator of Food and Farmers’ Rights Campaign, John Eko, said forests around Imodi/Imosan, Ago-Iwoye, Imope/Oke-Eri, Ijebu-Ijesa, Okun-Owa and Ikangba/Agoro in the Ijebu Ode axis had become hotspots and safe havens for criminal elements to operate unhindered.
According to him, bandits and kidnappers gain access to the forests through routes such as the Ijebu Ode-Ibadan Expressway, Ago-Iwoye-Imodi Road and the Old Lagos-Benin Road along the Ikangba/Agoro-Okun-Owa axis, among others.
One of our correspondents gathered that a vast uncultivated land bordering Oyo Forest was believed to be serving as a hideout for bandits.
It was also gathered that more than five abduction incidents had been recorded around the Ijebu axis in recent times, with millions of naira paid as ransom.
However, the Special Adviser to Governor Dapo Abiodun on Information and Strategy, Kayode Akinmade, said the state government had adopted proactive and intelligence-driven security measures to prevent criminal elements from gaining footholds in any part of the state.
He said security agencies had intensified inter-agency deployments, coordinated patrols, stop-and-search operations, surveillance and bush-combing exercises across vulnerable locations.
“In recent days, combined security operatives carried out extensive forest-combing operations within identified flashpoints, leading to the neutralisation of some suspected kidnappers, the arrest of several others and the rescue of kidnapped victims held within forest corridors.
“Particular attention is being paid to border communities, forest corridors, isolated settlements and suspected infiltration routes between Ogun and neighbouring states,” Akinmade said.
On his part, the spokesperson for the Ogun State Police Command, Omolola Odutola, said the command had continued to strengthen the state’s security architecture.
He said, “As a strategic gateway state, the command has continued to tighten all loose ends through coordinated policing strategies, enhanced surveillance, aggressive patrols and sustained intelligence gathering aimed at denying criminal elements the opportunity to infiltrate or operate within the state.”
