31/05/2026
*Woro-176: Four Months of Silence, Four Months of Pain – Where is Kwara Government in Protecting Lives and Property?*
By:
*Bello Olamilekan Kabir-Yesbit*,
National Convener, Academics in Politics
Why are we acting like everything is fine?
The video of Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq advocating for increased minimum wage went viral across Nigeria. Kwarans shared it. Oyo people shared it. The whole country saw it. That is fine and commendable. But 4 months on, there is no video of the same Governor demanding urgent federal assistance to free the *176 people of Woro, Kaiama LGA* kidnapped in February by men of the underworld.
If only we were victims, we would understand that the rescue of Woro-176 and the emptied communities in Kwara North and South must come before minimum wage optics. Truth be told, Kwara was not like this. Even when insecurity peaked nationally between 2011 and 2023, Kwara maintained relative peace. So why is Kwara now in this security mess?
*120 Days of Captivity*
February to May is 120 days. 120 nights. 120 mornings. Four months that sons, daughters, fathers, and mothers of Woro have been away from their homes, farms, classrooms, and families. Four months in bushes, in chains, under the mercy of bandits. Yet Kwara has moved on. The government has moved on too. If not, just as minimum wage videos circulate the polity, we should have videos of the Governor pressing the President on Kwara’s insecurity every time they meet.
*The Double Standard is Painful*
If it were the sons or daughters of governors, senators, or the President, would they spend 4 months in captivity? We know the answer. The children of the highly influential don’t get kidnapped because they move with heavy security. But the children of farmers, traders, and teachers in Woro, Sagbe, Koro, and other Kwara North/South communities are left to be tortured by bandits, while their government debates minimum wage optics.
*What Has Kwara Government Done for Woro-176?*
In 2026, this government finds energy to resuscitate a 2019 Offa robbery case. Press conferences. Legal teams. Old files dusted. But in the same year, bandits kidnap 176 from Woro. Bandits have triggered displacement so severe that most Kwara South communities have emptied into Ilorin as IDPs, putting extra pressure on Ilorin’s already strained facilities. Entire villages are now ghost towns.
Just yesterday, a popular Islamic cleric, Alfa Iliasu was killed in a gunmen attack along Ilesha-Baruba. Another family in tears and sorrow, because of a government that can no longer protect the lives and property of her citizens again? What have we done wrong as Kwarans and as a state?
The question Kwarans should be asking is simple:
Where is the video of the Governor begging the Federal Government, the military, and security agencies for special intervention on Woro-176? Where is the task force? Where are the daily updates? Where is the urgency? Where is the report showing how the Governor is utilizing security votes for a coordinated security architecture to rescue Woro-176 and prevent further kidnappings?
*The Political Cost of Silence*
Government cannot pretend this has no consequences. If Woro is empty, if Sagbe is abandoned, if Koro has fled, then who will vote for APC’s Hon. Yakubu Danladi or PDP’s Suleiman Bolakale Kawu in those areas? You cannot campaign in towns your government failed to protect. You cannot ask for votes from parents whose children are still missing because you treated their pain as less important than political vendetta.
Bandits have achieved what elections could not: they have displaced entire voting blocs. And the Kwara Government’s response in the last 4 months has been futile. No results. Four months of psychological torture for Woro-176 is synonymous with failure of government’s responsibility to protect its citizens.
*This is an Indictment*
To the Kwara Government: You are not doing enough. Woro-176 deserve more than silence. Their lives are part of what you swore to protect, yet you have failed that promise. They deserve coordinated rescue efforts, sustained federal pressure, and transparency. Every day they remain in captivity is another day government fails its primary duty: protection of lives and property.
To Kwarans: Silence in the face of 176 missing citizens makes us accomplices. We must ask our government questions. We must demand answers. Why do minimum wage videos trend while 176 Woro captives remain in chains after 120 days? Why do 2019 cases get attention while 2026 kidnappings get none? Why are the people of Sagbe now in exile? Why can kings and chiefs not stay on their thrones?
Four months is too long. The parents of Woro-176 are aging in pain. The children are missing school and healthcare. The community is dying.Unfortunately bandits can release videos of captives from the forest, but election result can be transmitted from the village, isn't that irony of our nation?
Kwara Government, stop the optics. Start the rescue. Bring our people home with a more coordinated security arrangements that will be proactive rather than been reactive always. We are not safe in Kwara again, Oyo(ogbomosho) is our neignour and linked Ilorin directly, we saw the kidnapped and killing that happen there. Koro is in Ekiti, this place share boarder with Kogi state, is not safe again too. Woro is in Kwara North. Kwara South is not safe , Kwara North is bleeding, the only safe heaven is Kwara Central but the government must be proactive to avoid infiltration of this men of the underworld into Ilorin from Ogbomosho.
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End.
