Youths in Eruku, Ekiti Local Government Area of Kwara State, barricaded the Ilorin–Kabba highway on Wednesday, protesting Tuesday night’s violent bandit attack on Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) in the community.
The demonstrators accused security agencies of abandoning residents during the assault.
The protest, which began early in the morning, caused a major traffic gridlock along the busy highway. By 1:30 pm, dozens of trailers and commercial vehicles bound for Kogi State were stranded as protesters lit bonfires and blocked the road with stones and logs.
Eyewitnesses said the attack, which occurred during a church service, lasted almost an hour without any response from local security operatives. Adesuyi Joshua, a protester, described the situation as a total security failure.
“They took my wife and our granddaughter, along with about 30 other people. At first, we thought the gunshots were part of something minor, but soon it became clear it was an attack. By the time we tried to intervene, it was too late,” Joshua said.
Shola Peters Adetona, another youth leader, accused police officers of complicity, insisting that law enforcement failed to respond despite previous community support.
“These are the same officers we helped, building houses for the DPO and his men. When we needed them most, they failed us. The Inspector General needs to probe the Eruku division. All they do here is harass young boys and tag them as Yahoo boys or cultists,” Adetona said.
A local vigilante, speaking on condition of anonymity, raised suspicions of foul play. “Our forest guards and some of our men were sent for training on Sunday. Two days later, the bandits attacked. This is similar to the Oke Ode incident, when rifles were collected from vigilantes before an attack,” he said.
Kwara State Commissioner of Police, CP Adekimi Ojo, visited Eruku alongside the State Director of the Department of State Services to calm tensions. He appealed for calm and promised decisive action, including the deployment of additional personnel and stationing an Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) in the community.
“We will bring the perpetrators to justice and deploy more men and resources to secure this area,” CP Ojo assured.
Traditional ruler of Eruku, Oba Busari Arinde Oyediran, called on residents to avoid taking the law into their own hands.
“We need more personnel and checkpoints because many bandits chased from nearby forests are hiding around this axis. Allow security agencies to do their work,” he urged.
The Eruku attack is the latest in a series of violent incidents in Kwara’s border communities, raising renewed concerns over insecurity in the Middle Belt corridor.
