Tuesday’s massacre in Woro, a remote community in Kaiama Local Government Area of Kwara State, which left an estimated 176 residents dead, was not a random act of violence.
Findings by Saturday PUNCH show that the attack was the result of a calculated expansion of a jihadist front that the country’s security architecture failed to halt despite prior warnings. At the centre of the bloodshed is Abubakar Saidu, popularly known as Sadiku, a terrorist commander whose violent trail spans more than a decade and the northern region of the country.
For years, Sadiku remained a shadowy figure within the insurgency landscape. But investigations reveal a 12-year evolution that saw him rise from a handpicked lieutenant of the late Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, in 2014, to what security analysts now describe as the “Shekau of the North-Central” by 2026.
As sustained military pressure weakened Boko Haram’s strongholds in the North-East, Sadiku migrated westward, embedding himself in the vast forest corridors of Niger and Kwara states. From there, he orchestrated a campaign that crippled farming communities, displaced families, and ultimately culminated in one of the deadliest mass killings recorded in Kwara State.
Security findings indicate that Boko Haram originally deployed Sadiku to Niger State as a trusted operative tasked with expanding the group’s influence beyond its traditional North-East base.
A self-styled counterterrorism analyst on X, MobilisingNigeria, traced Sadiku’s ascent within the insurgency to his close ties with the late Shekau, who personally selected him to represent Boko Haram’s interests in Niger State.
“He later worked with Dogo Gide to expand into the North-Central terrain and also collaborated with the Darul Islam terrorist group before the police dismantled it,” the analyst wrote. For a period, Sadiku maintained an alliance with notorious bandit kingpin Gide, leveraging the partnership to acquire weapons, intelligence, and local influence.
However, ideological disagreements eventually fractured the alliance, leading to violent clashes that claimed the lives of fighters on both sides. Following the split, Sadiku retreated deeper into the forests, eventually establishing a base within the Kainji Forest Reserve in July 2025.