Gunmen suspected to be bandits attacked Isapa community in the Ekiti Local Government Area of Kwara State, abducting a pregnant woman, 10 children, two nursing mothers, and several other residents during an overnight raid.

According to multiple accounts from within the community, between 20 and 30 armed men carried out the assault, moving through the settlement with a herd of cattle while shooting sporadically. Witnesses said the attackers operated with little resistance as they advanced.

During the invasion, an elderly woman was reportedly struck by a stray bullet, heightening panic among residents already attempting to flee from the gunfire.

A community leader who spoke to National Pilot confirmed that 11 individuals were taken away in the attack. He said the victims included seven people believed to be from the same household, further deepening concerns about the scale of the assault.

The abducted persons were identified as Talatu Kabiru, Magaji, Kande, Hadiza, Mariam, Saima, Habibat, Fatima Yusufu, Sarah Sunday, Lami Fidelis, and Haja Na Allah. Their families have since raised alarm as search efforts remain ongoing.

Reports indicate that the assailants escaped through bush routes linking Eruku to nearby villages, leaving the community in fear and uncertainty over their possible return.

Tuesday’s incident follows a similar attack two weeks earlier, when bandits stormed the Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) in the area, abducting 38 worshippers and killing some during the operation. Authorities later rescued all the kidnapped church members, though security concerns have persisted across the region.

Adams Oshiomhole, senator representing Edo North and former national chairman of the All Progressives Congress, has questioned the fitness of former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar to lead Nigeria, following Abubakar’s decision to join the African Democratic Congress.

Oshiomhole issued the criticism on Monday during an interview on Politics Today, a Channels Television programme, shortly after Abubakar publicly confirmed his membership of the ADC. The former vice-president had earlier shared a photograph of himself holding his party card on X with the caption: “It’s official.”

The senator argued that Abubakar’s long-running difficulty in stabilising the Peoples Democratic Party undermines his present bid to reposition the country. According to him, the former vice-president has failed to demonstrate the capacity to provide direction within the PDP, despite decades of political influence.

Oshiomhole said, “If Atiku as a former vice-president under PDP could not fix PDP, he could not reconstruct it, and he could not provide leadership and use his influence which he had built, how can you lay claim to fix Nigeria?”

He linked Abubakar’s latest move to a pattern of political withdrawals, recalling that the former vice-president had also quit the APC after failing to secure its presidential ticket. Oshiomhole maintained that Abubakar only returned to the PDP for electoral purposes, yet “could not build” the party that once elevated him to the position of vice-president.

He added, “He was once a member of the APC. He left because he lost the party’s presidential ticket. He went back to the PDP. He’s so much in love with the PDP, at least for the purpose of contesting election. He could not build PDP. So, if Atiku can’t build the PDP that made him vice-president, he can’t fix Nigeria.”

Abubakar’s defection to the ADC follows his resignation from the PDP in July, after months of internal disputes that left the opposition party fractured ahead of the 2027 elections.

The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Olohundare Jimoh, on Monday announced that the command has strengthened security deployments across schools, worship centres and other public locations to prevent any potential breaches.

Jimoh disclosed this during a briefing at the command headquarters in Ikeja, where he assured residents that the state remained secure, adding that the reinforced measures would continue through the ember months and into the New Year.

He said, “We want the general public to know that Lagos is safe and secure. We have made additional deployments to all schools, places of worship, religious centres and other locations frequently visited by people to ensure all worshippers are safe. This will continue into the New Year and beyond to ensure the safety of all Lagosians and other Nigerians coming into the state. We don’t have any concern to be worried about; we are beefing up security throughout the state.”

The commissioner also stated that the command was intensifying efforts to expand its tactical units across the local government areas in Lagos.

The announcement comes at a time when several states within the country have recorded security breaches, including recent abductions in Kwara, Kebbi and Niger.

Jimoh further revealed that newly employed drivers and car wash attendants were responsible for several cases of stolen vehicles within the state.

During the briefing, he paraded 10 recovered exotic vehicles and disclosed that 56 suspects had been arrested for various offences during recent operations.

He said, “I want to emphasise that the onslaughts on the men of the underworld have been yielding results. And that is why behind me there are 10 exotic cars that I’m parading before you today. These vehicles are mostly those that were taken by the drivers who were in charge of such vehicles. Because the complaints we have about stolen vehicles in Lagos were that drivers who were just employed took the vehicles away. And we equally have instances where vehicles that were taken to a car wash were being driven away by the attendants.”

He urged residents to take greater precautions, particularly regarding vehicle security, and to avoid leaving car keys with unfamiliar or newly hired workers.

“So, we should be more security conscious by ensuring that when we take our vehicle to a car wash, we don’t leave the key of the car with the car wash attendant. We should ensure this security measure so that we don’t get our vehicle stolen,” he said.

Among the vehicles recovered were a white Toyota Hilux, a white Range Rover SUV, a black Land Cruiser, a silver Lexus GX460 SUV, a silver Honda CR-V, a grey Toyota Corolla SM3 and another Toyota Corolla bearing registration number JJJ 887.

A Boxer Bajaj motorcycle linked to an attempted robbery was also recovered.

Jimoh displayed a range of weapons seized from suspects, including four locally made pistols, a cut-to-size single-barrel shotgun, a locally fabricated firearm, cartridges and a machete.

He stated that the arrests and recoveries resulted from intensified operations across the state.

“Each of these vehicles has two or three suspects attached to it. For these successes altogether, we have arrested 56 suspects,” he said.

The commissioner reiterated that the command would maintain its security operations into the New Year to ensure Lagos remains safe, especially around institutions and areas with high pedestrian traffic.