Reported by: Ijeoma G | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
The funeral prayers were held under a sky that has become all too familiar with grief in Niger State. More than 30 people were killed in the attack on Dekara, and their bodies were committed to the earth as residents wept for loved ones they had prayed beside just weeks earlier. But the burial was only the beginning of the mourning, not the end of the nightmare. As the community buried its dead, the families of approximately 500 people who were abducted from the Friday mosque in Dekara, Borgu Local Government Area, were left to grapple with an even more agonising reality: their loved ones are still in the hands of the terrorists who stormed their place of worship.
The attack occurred on Friday, August 21, 2026, when terrorists invaded four communities in Borgu LGA during Jumu'at prayers. The assailants struck Dekara, Gbeji, Kpenya, and Giyan Gbasu, killing worshippers and taking hundreds hostage. According to the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, the terrorists entered the Central Mosque in Dekara while Muslims were observing Jumu'at prayers and abducted more than 60 people from that mosque alone, though other accounts from residents and local officials put the number of those taken across the affected communities at approximately 500. Among those abducted were the 90-year-old father of the District Head of Dekara and the Chief Imam of the Dekara Central Mosque. The NSCIA described the attack as "heinous and barbaric," and questioned how long innocent Nigerians would continue to be abducted and slaughtered in their communities while terrorists operate with such audacity.
The attack was reportedly the third major assault on Dekara and neighbouring communities in recent years. Previous attacks had forced entire populations to leave their ancestral homes and seek refuge in other parts of Niger and Kwara states, as well as across Nigeria's border in the Republic of Benin. The timing was particularly troubling: the attacks occurred barely three weeks after Nigerian security forces had rescued 308 abducted persons from the Kainji Lake National Park forest, including 163 people abducted from Woro in Kaiama Local Government Area of Kwara State and 145 others from communities in Borgu LGA. That rescue operation had demonstrated what security forces could achieve when provided with adequate resources, intelligence, coordination, and political support. Yet the attacks resumed almost immediately, raising questions about the sustainability of the gains recorded and the ability of security agencies to prevent terrorists from returning to vulnerable communities.
The Federal Government has responded with directives and deployments. President Bola Tinubu ordered a manhunt for the perpetrators. The Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Disu, visited Niger State on Saturday, August 29, 2026, to assess the security situation and ordered intensified rescue operations. He met with Deputy Governor Yakubu Garba at the Government House in Minna and conveyed the condolences of the Nigeria Police Force to the affected communities. Disu directed the Niger State Police Command to deepen inter-agency coordination and community engagement, and assured the command of continued support from Force Headquarters in logistics, mobility, intelligence, and training. The IGP also paid a condolence visit to the Emir of Minna, where discussions focused on strengthening cooperation between security agencies and traditional institutions to enhance intelligence gathering and public safety.
But for the people of Dekara, the response has been slow and the suffering immense. The Niger State Government has said that security agencies must first clear the affected communities before humanitarian assistance can be safely delivered to victims. The Commissioner for Homeland Security, Maurice Bello Magaji, said the government was providing logistics support to security agencies and would immediately assess the needs of affected communities once security forces established control. The police have attributed part of the difficulty in establishing the exact number of victims to the difficult terrain, saying security agencies were working with residents to obtain accurate information. The Inspector-General approved additional operational support, including tactical teams, the Counter-Terrorism Unit, and the Police Air Wing, to reinforce the rescue operation.
The mass abduction at Dekara has once again exposed the fragility of security in Niger State and the wider North-Central region. Borgu LGA sits on the Kainji wilderness and borders Kwara, Kebbi, and the Republic of Benin. Poor roads slow response. Forests hide camps. Rival armed groups impose levies, fight one another, and treat villages as a revenue base. Markets have closed, farms have emptied, and each rescue has been followed by another raid. The NSCIA has called for an immediate review of security arrangements across Niger and Kwara states and adjoining border communities, particularly those around the Kainji Lake National Park and surrounding forest corridors. It has urged the Federal Government to move beyond rescue operations and establish a permanent, intelligence-driven, and community-based security system to protect communities in affected areas.
As the people of Dekara mourn their dead and pray for the safe return of the hundreds still in captivity, the question on everyone's lips is one that has been asked far too many times before: how many more communities must be attacked before decisive action is taken? How many more families must lose their loved ones before the nation resolves that enough is enough? For the families of the approximately 500 abducted worshippers, the wait continues. Their loved ones are somewhere in the forests of Borgu, held by men who attacked them while they prayed. The government has promised to rescue them. The security agencies have been deployed. The nation waits and hopes. But for the people of Dekara, hope is a fragile thing, and the silence from the forest is deafening.
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