Gunmen suspected to be Bandits stormed a Kwara State Government road construction site along the Sabaja/Owa-Onire Road. The assailants attacked in broad daylight, overpowering the workers before whisking them away into the nearby forest. While initial reports cited five victims, subsequent updates from family and community sources indicated a total of seven individuals were taken, including engineers, laborers, and a driver.
15 Dec 2025 · Sabaja/Owa-Onire Road, Ifelodun, Kwara
Deaths
0
Injured
0
Kidnapped
7
Total casualties
0
Perpetrators
Unidentified Armed Actors
Response
The Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Oreke mobilized a joint team of police, military personnel, and local vigilantes to comb the Oba/Owa-Onire forest axis. The kidnappers later established contact, demanding a ₦500 million ransom and insisting on negotiating directly with the state government rather than the families.
Displacement
0
Socioeconomic drivers
Ransom economy, disruption of state development projects, intimidation of rural communities.
Trajectory
Throughout December 2025, Kwara experienced a sharp spike in abductions (including Chinese expatriates in Ejidongari and church worshippers in Ifelodun). This suggests that Kwara has transitioned from being a "transit corridor" for Bandits to an "operational base" where cells are now settling and launching coordinated attacks.
Cycle notes
Mirrored earlier attacks on development projects and foreign or local workers by armed groups in northern Nigeria, such as the 7 November 2012 killing of two Chinese engineers in Benisheik and the 19 October 2012 murder of a Chinese construction worker in Maiduguri, reflecting a recurring tactic of targeting construction and infrastructure personnel for abduction or attack, leveraging isolation and minimal security to terrorize communities, disrupt economic activity, and extract ransom or exert pressure on authorities.
Pattern
The Construction Siege — This incident highlights a growing trend in late 2025 where Bandits target public infrastructure projects. By abducting government contractors and Ministry of Works staff, criminal groups aim to "tax" the state’s development budget through massive ransom demands (₦500m in this instance).
Related — Kidnapping
Gunmen suspected to be Boko Haram kidnapped Shettima Ali Monguno (often called Ali Monguno), Nigeria's former oil minister, as he left Mafoni mosque in Maiduguri, Borno State, after Friday prayers; they stormed his vehicle and took him amid shots fired
Gunmen stormed a residence in Tella village, Taraba State, housing foreign construction workers employed by Triacta Engineering Firm. The attackers opened fire, killing two police guards assigned to protect the expatriates.
At about 11:30 PM, a large gang of heavily armed Bandits breached the perimeter fence of the Federal College of Forestry Mechanization in Afaka, Igabi LGA, Kaduna State—directly opposite the Nigerian Defence Academy—using explosives or heavy tools to bypass security, before storming the hostels, abducting students, and marching them toward the nearby forest.