Gunmen suspected to be bandits launched a terrifying midnight assault on Yashikira town in Kwara State’s Baruten Local Government Area in the early hours of Monday, May 25, 2026, carting away 10 people including three wives and four children of the local emir, Alhaji Umar Seriki.
According to eyewitness accounts shared online, the heavily armed men rode in on motorcycles around midnight, firing into the air as they stormed both the emir’s palace and a nearby police station at the same time.
Security personnel at the palace were overwhelmed, allowing the gunmen to break into the inner quarters of the royal residence.
One resident, who posted details from a phone call with his father still in the community, said people scattered in all directions as bullets rang out, with some sustaining injuries while fleeing.
Another local, Tukur Ahmed, confirmed the attackers went straight for the palace, seized the emir’s wives and children alongside other residents, torched several vehicles on the palace grounds worth millions of naira, and then fled into the night. The emir himself was reportedly not home at the time.
The Kwara State Police Command confirmed the incident, noting that while the attack on the Yashikira Police Divisional Headquarters was successfully repelled, 10 people were taken to an unknown location.
The Commissioner of Police has since activated a joint rescue operation involving the military, forest guards, vigilantes, and other agencies, who are now combing nearby forests and suspected hideouts.
Kwara North has seen a worrying surge in banditry in recent months, with armed groups escalating from isolated kidnappings to large-scale coordinated attacks on communities, highways, and security bases across Kaiama, Baruten, Edu, and Patigi LGAs.
One of the deadliest episodes occurred on February 3, 2026, when a massacre in Woro and Nuku communities in Kaiama LGA shocked the region.
In a related development, the Chairman of Ekiti LGA in Kwara State, Gabriel Awelewa, has indefinitely banned night vigils in worship centres across the council, following a deadly attack on a church vigil near Ikerin-Opin in which three worshippers were killed and 15 others abducted.
Awelewa noted that the church had been warned repeatedly through the Christian Association of Nigeria and the League of Imams to stop holding isolated night services, but continued anyway.
Religious groups in outlying areas have now been directed to move services to community centres within towns, with daytime services capped at two hours.
“Faith cannot be practised at the expense of life,” he was quoted as saying, adding that the hilltop location of the church made it impossible for security forces to respond quickly when the attack happened.
The council says it will work with state authorities and security agencies to rescue the abducted worshippers and improve surveillance in vulnerable communities.
