A recent report by Vanguard Media has raised fresh concerns over the growing activities of bandits and kidnappers in forested areas across South-West Nigeria, with security agencies warning that criminal groups are increasingly using remote forests as operational hideouts.
According to Vanguard, the outgoing Commissioner of Police in Ogun State, Lanre Ogumlowo, warned that dense forests in the Ijebu axis of Ogun State are now being exploited by bandits and kidnappers for ransom operations.
The newspaper reported that forests and porous border corridors stretching across Oyo, Osun, Ogun and Ekiti states have become major infiltration routes for armed groups fleeing military offensives in northern Nigeria.
Among the locations identified as security flashpoints are the Old Oyo National Park linking Oyo and Kwara states, forests connecting Imesi-Ile in Osun State to Ekiti State, as well as forest communities within the Ijebu region of Ogun State. Security sources quoted in the report said the vast terrain has made surveillance difficult for security operatives.
Vanguard further noted that the rise in kidnappings and attacks on rural communities in parts of Oyo, Ogun, Ondo, Ekiti and Osun states has heightened fears that armed criminal networks are expanding deeper into the South-West.
The concern follows recent attacks in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State, where gunmen reportedly attacked schools in Yawota, Esinele and nearby communities, abducting pupils and teachers before escaping through forest routes believed to connect to the Old Oyo National Park.
Security agencies, including the police, Amotekun Corps, military personnel and local vigilante groups, have since intensified surveillance and forest-combing operations across the region in an effort to dismantle suspected criminal camps and prevent further attacks.
Credit: Vanguard News