The Sadiku-led Boko Haram faction operating in North-central Nigeria has released a video of persons it kidnapped recently from Woro village in the Kaiama Local Government Area of Kwara State.
Between 3 and 4 February, the terrorists attacked the village killing and abducting an unspecified number of people. Saidu Ahmed, a lawmaker representing Gwanabe/Gwaria constituency of Kaiama Local Government Area in the State House of Assembly, estimated the figure of those kidnapped at 35, but a state government official said 75 people were confirmed dead, while residents say the figure could be much higher.
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Residents who spoke with PREMIUM TIMES said the terrorists operated in the community for several hours and left before soldiers arrived.
Woro is located on the fringes of Kainji National Park, a vast forest reserve covering about 5,341 square kilometres. The area has increasingly become a hideout for armed groups, including Boko Haram and Ansaru—locally known as Mamuda.
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While Ansaru has operated in the area since around 2020, Boko Haram fighters moved into the forest in July last year.
The propaganda video
In the video posted on TikTok, a terrorist speaking behind the camera is questioning the abducted women and children about where they had been taken from and how many of them were being held.
Four of the women responded that they were abducted from Woro, with another saying that they were 176 in captivity.
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The terrorists also criticised the government, tagging it as “a government of infidelity and deceit,” and disputing what they described as official claims that no more than 30 people had been abducted.
The 1:34 minute video was posted by a TikTok user, Abu Abba. Both the handle and the video could not be found again on the platform, suggesting that the account might have been deactivated or deleted.
Salihu Umar, the village head of Woro whose wife and daughters were among those abducted, said he saw the video.
“People sent it to me this morning,” he told PREMIUM TIMES. Mr Umar said the figure of abductees could be up to what was mentioned in the video.
ALSO READ: Kwara ruler freed after one month in captivity, family paid N32 million ransom
He said more than 150 names of those suspected to have been abducted were documented immediately after the attack.
The Woro attack came weeks after the terrorists sent a letter to the village head informing him of their plan to visit the community for [radical] preaching. Following the attack, President Bola Tinubu deployed a battalion of army to the village, charging them to hunt down the terrorists and rescue the abducted victims.
Mr Umar, the village head, said no victim has been rescued, adding that the terrorists have not contacted anyone for negotiation of ransom.
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