Igbeti attack: Oyo urges residents, traditional rulers to support security agencies

Reported by Ariajegbe Sylvia Esezobor 

The Oyo State Government has appealed to residents and traditional rulers across the state's northern flashpoint communities to work more closely with security agencies, following an attack by suspected bandits on a military-linked security outpost near Igbeti in Olorunsogo Local Government Area at the weekend.
The assault targeted an Operation Burst base along the Igbeti-Igboho Road at around 5 a.m. on Sunday, according to state officials. Deputy Governor Bayo Lawal led an assessment tour to the scene of the attack within 24 hours of the incident, accompanied by local government chairmen, the Onigbeti of Igbeti, the Commissioner for Establishment and Training, Professor Saliu Adelabu, and the Senior Special Assistant on Security, CP Sunday Odukoya. Officials said there were no reported casualties from the attack, a development the government described with visible relief given the scale of violence the region has witnessed in recent months.
In the aftermath, the state government disclosed that five suspected terrorists had been arrested in connection with the raid, while more than 120 soldiers had been deployed to pursue the fleeing assailants into the surrounding forest terrain. Officials also said surveillance aircraft recently acquired by the state were being deployed for reconnaissance to support the manhunt and to help prevent further breaches in the area. Lawal said the state had established an emergency committee comprising the five adjoining local government areas of Olorunsogo, Oriire, Saki East, Orelope and Irepo, which would work to identify and meet the operational needs of security personnel stationed in the affected areas and liaise with the state government to ensure prompt support. "As a responsible government, we will continue to play our part in ensuring that our people are safe," the Deputy Governor said during the visit.
As part of the response, the state government issued a pointed warning to residents, traditional rulers and illegal miners operating around the vast Old Oyo National Park forest reserves, cautioning them against aiding or providing cover for suspected bandits and terrorists using the forests as a hideout. Officials said anyone found harbouring or supporting armed groups would face the full weight of the law, while simultaneously calling on communities and royal fathers to actively support the ongoing security operations through vigilance, timely information-sharing and cooperation with troops and police in the field. The government framed the appeal as part of a broader push to prevent bandits from turning the sprawling national park, which straddles several local government areas in the Oke-Ogun region, into a long-term sanctuary for criminal activity.
Sunday's attack is the latest in a string of security breaches that have plagued Oyo State's northern axis for much of the year, particularly around the Kishi-Igbeti and Igboho-Igbeti roads and within Old Oyo National Park itself. In May, armed bandits attacked communities in Oriire Local Government Area, abducting pupils and teachers from a community high school in Ahoro-Esinle and killing several residents, including a teacher who was later beheaded in a video that circulated online. That incident triggered widespread outrage and intensified calls from Yoruba activists, including Sunday Igboho, and factions of the Oodua People's Congress for the federal and state governments to empower local vigilante and hunter groups to enter the forests and confront the armed gangs believed responsible for a wave of attacks across the South-West. Traditional rulers across the five local government areas of Ogbomosoland also called at the time for the establishment of a military base in Oriire to combat the rising insecurity.
The Oyo State House of Assembly, too, has repeatedly raised alarm over the deteriorating security situation in the Oke-Ogun region. In June, lawmakers noted that several security-related motions had been brought before the House within a single week following deadly attacks along the Kishi-Igbeti and Igboho-Igbeti roads, and they appealed to traditional rulers, religious leaders, community stakeholders, youth groups and residents to support security agencies through intelligence gathering and community-based initiatives. The Assembly also directed relevant agencies to clear overgrown bushes along major routes through the forest corridors, arguing that improved visibility along those roads would reduce the risk of ambushes, a recommendation that appears to have had only limited effect given the latest attack on the Operation Burst base.
State officials have consistently framed the response to the crisis as a shared responsibility between government, security agencies, local councils and traditional institutions, echoing appeals made by monarchs such as the Oluwo of Iwo, who has separately urged the federal government to provide security votes and logistics support directly to traditional rulers, arguing that palaces are typically the first point of contact whenever a community's security is threatened. Whether such structural support materialises remains to be seen, but for now, Oyo State's emergency committee arrangement across the five affected local government areas represents the government's most concrete institutional response to the pattern of attacks along the forest corridors bordering Kwara and other neighbouring states.
For residents of Igbeti and surrounding communities, the attack adds to months of anxiety over the security of a region that has become one of the most persistent flashpoints in Nigeria's South-West. While the absence of casualties in Sunday's incident offered some relief, the targeting of a security base itself, rather than an undefended village, has raised fresh concern about the boldness of the armed groups operating in the area. The state government says it will continue to rely on a combination of military deployment, aerial surveillance and community cooperation to contain the threat, even as questions persist about how long such stopgap measures can hold without a more permanent security presence in the region.
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