Profit-driven Kidnappers and Caliphate-seeking Insurgents Double Teaming?
By Onibiyo Segun
(Akure, Ondo State) Gunmen stormed the palace of Oba Olufemi Adewumi, the traditional ruler of Owo, late Wednesday, February 18, abducted him, and later killed him, palace witnesses told national media.
Witnesses told TruthNigeria that the attackers arrived in large numbers, shooting sporadically shortly after nightfall, overpowered palace guards, injuring many, abducted the Oba and fled toward a nearby forest corridor.
The monarch’s body was recovered hours later a few meters from his residence.
The killing has reopened wounds in Owo, the same town that suffered the June 5, 2022, massacre at St. Francis Catholic Church, an atrocity TruthNigeria attributed to the Ansaru insurgency.
Community in Shock
“We are in disbelief. This is no longer the Owo we knew,” Bamidele Akinyele, a community leader, told TruthNigeria.
“Our king was a voice for peace and against terrorism in the Southwest. If attackers can reach the palace, nowhere feels secure,” Akinyele said.
Oba Adewumi, a devoted Christian, a member of the Anglican church and a member of the Ondo State Traditional Council, had supported closer coordination between hunters, vigilantes, and formal security agencies as kidnappings spread along the Owo–Akure and Owo–Benin corridors.
Ansaru or a Hybrid Network?
TruthNigeria’s 2022 reporting concluded that Ansaru, an al-Qaeda-linked faction operating in north-central Nigeria, carried out the Owo church massacre.
That finding was based on operational patterns, intelligence assessments, and the symbolic nature of the target.
This week’s palace killing raises a critical question: is Ansaru active again in Ondo forests, or has a different armed network escalated its campaign?
Dr. Henry Nwosu, a Lagos-based counterterrorism researcher, said the method – motorcycle assault, rapid palace breach, forest withdrawal, and symbolic targeting, resembles jihadist modus operandi.
“Targeting a traditional ruler is strategic,” Nwosu told TruthNigeria.
“Ansaru has historically attacked symbols of authority to project ideological dominance. This goes beyond ransom logic,” Nwosu added.
However, Dr. Mathew Badejor, a public security analyst in Ibadan, urged caution.
“We are seeing hybridization,” Badejor told TruthNigeria.
Badejor went further that “Armed Fulani militia elements, bandit factions, and jihadist cells sometimes collaborate tactically.”
“Shared logistics do not always mean shared command. Attribution must rest on confirmed intelligence, Badejor said.
Both experts agreed that southwestern Nigeria is witnessing a convergence of profit-driven kidnapping gangs and ideologically motivated insurgent actors exploiting forest belts stretching from Kogi through Ondo into Ekiti.
Wider Pattern
The Owo killing echoes earlier coordinated violence across multiple states.
In Woro, Kwara State, North-Central Nigeria, more than 170 residents were reportedly killed in rural raids.
In Kurmin Wali, Kaduna State, armed attackers executed villagers in reprisal-style assaults. The Kurmin Wali attack was carried out by 40 Fulani ethnic militia who surrounded three Christian congregations at worship, then carried out the abduction of 177 residents in a single coordinated wave.
Security analysts tracking these incidents point to common features: motorcycle mobility, forest sanctuaries, night raids, and systematic attacks on rural authority structures.
TruthNigeria’s Niger Basin security review previously documented operational overlaps between Ansaru cells and armed Fulani militia networks across Kaduna, Niger, Kogi, and Kwabbur
Onibiyo Segun reports on terrorism and conflict for TruthNigeria.
