The Senate, yesterday, sought an urgent military base in Kwara State and federal intervention over the growing insecurity in the state.
This followed an escalating wave of killings, kidnappings, and bandits’ attacks in Kwara South Senatorial District, particularly in Ifelodun Local Government Area. The red chamber, which called for immediate and comprehensive federal intervention to halt the worsening insecurity, alleged that 142 persons had been kidnapped, 70 killed, and 25 communities deserted in one year.
The motion was sponsored by the Deputy Leader of the Senate, Senator Oyelola Yisa Ashiru, representing Kwara South. This was as Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq commended President Bola for his intervention in the state with the deployment of a full brigade and heavy equipment in different parts of Kwara South by the Nigerian Army.
Ashiru, who detailed figures of human casualties, mass displacement, and economic paralysis in parts of the senatorial zone, said they have become the new theatre of violent crimes in the North Central region.
Presenting the motion of urgent national importance, Ashiru said no fewer than 142 people had been kidnapped and over 70 killed in the past twelve months across communities in Ifelodun, Isin, Ekiti, and Oke Ero Local Government Areas.
He added that about 25 communities have been completely deserted, while local economies, schools, and farmlands have been destroyed by the unrelenting attacks.
According to him, “Within the last month alone, not fewer than twelve forest guards and local vigilante members were killed in an ambush by armed bandits in Oke-Ode.
He lamented that the attackers, mostly foreign armed elements operating with local informants, had established hideouts within forests along the Kwara–Kogi–Ekiti boundary axis, from where they launch raids on unsuspecting villages.
Ashiru noted that while there have been some government responses, such as sporadic patrols and raids, the efforts remained largely “episodic, inadequate, and reactive,” leaving vast areas ungoverned.
He warned that if the situation was not urgently contained, the crisis could spread to other parts of the North Central and South West regions, threatening wider national stability.
Following extensive debate, the Senate unanimously resolved to urge the federal government to establish a permanent military base in Kwara South, near the forest belts of Ifelodun Local Government Area, to serve as a rapid response hub against armed incursions in the zone.