Owa-Onire: The Kwara Community Bandits Chased Away

Farms abandoned, schools closed, homes looted. For months, residents of Owa-Onire have fled repeated attacks as security forces fail to respond, writes ABDULLAHI OLESIN
At noon, Owa-Onire is silent. The market that once thronged with traders from Asa, Ilorin and neighbouring villages now holds only broken stalls and weeds. Doors hang loose on abandoned homes. A chalkboard in the only public primary school still reads “Week 6: Mathematics,” frozen since the last pupils fled.
For years, bandits have turned this farming community into a target. Attacks come at night — gunfire, torched motorcycles, kidnapped farmers. With each raid, more families load their belongings onto trucks and lea...