Forests and porous border corridors stretching across Oyo, Osun, Ogun and Ekiti states have become major infiltration routes for bandits and kidnappers entering the South-West, findings have revealed.
PrimeTimes Nigeria reports that credible sources who spoke with Punch, including hunters, operatives of the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) and local residents, said armed groups fleeing military operations in the North were exploiting weak surveillance in forest reserves and boundary communities.
They said the criminals use the routes to launch attacks, abduct residents and escape undetected.
Findings showed that the Old Oyo National Park linking Oyo and Kwara states, as well as forests connecting Osun and Ekiti through Imesi-Ile, had become major security threats in the region.
Security operatives said many suspected bandits had been dislodged from some of the areas, but the vast forest belts remained difficult to police.
They lamented that forests used for farming, hunting and other economic activities had become safe routes for criminal groups involved in kidnapping, cattle rustling and other violent crimes.
The development comes amid rising cases of kidnappings and attacks in Oyo, Ogun, Ondo, Osun and Ekiti states.
On May 15, bandits attacked three schools in Esinele, Yamota and Alawusa in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State.
Teachers were killed, while 47 pupils and teachers were abducted during the attack.
The incident heightened fears over the growing activities of armed groups in rural communities across the South-West.
The attackers reportedly escaped through the Old Oyo National Park.
Local sources alleged that the forest corridor had become a major route for criminal groups operating in the region.
Findings showed that the Old Oyo National Park covers about 2,512 square kilometres, or 251,200 hectares.
The park is about 160 kilometres from Ilorin, the Kwara State capital.
Forests around Oriire, Ogbomoso, Kishi and adjoining communities were said to form part of a larger vegetation corridor stretching across Oyo, Kwara, Osun and parts of northern Nigeria.
Security sources said the corridor provides multiple escape routes for armed groups.
‘Criminals Exploiting Forests’
Security operatives, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the criminals were taking advantage of dense, contiguous forests from Kainji National Park in Niger State to the Old Oyo National Park axis and the Gbugbu/Babanla forest in Kwara State.
They said the routes were being used to launch attacks and move abducted victims between locations.
The Defence Headquarters recently linked the Oyo school abduction to terrorists of the Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad group.
The military said the attackers had been displaced from other parts of the country by intensified military operations.
“The recent incidence of kidnapping in Oyo State was clearly perpetrated by terrorists of the JAS group that have been dislodged from other parts of the country due to high-intensity operations being conducted all over,” the Director, Defence Media Operations, Maj. Gen. Michael Onoja said.