In a devastating exploitation of Nigeria’s unfolding security transition, the new terrorist group Mahmuda launched a deadly attack on Duruma village in Kwara State’s Baruten Local Government Area early Tuesday, slaughtering three villagers as they buried their dead under a cloak of trauma. The assault occurred precisely when local hunters—critical frontline defenders—were pulled from their communities for state-sponsored training on President Bola Tinubu’s newly approved 130,000-strong National Forest Guard initiative .

Eyewitnesses described a ruthless, calculated strike. With Duruma’s traditional protectors absent in Ilorin for federal training, Mahmuda militants overran the village, executing three residents before vanishing into the dense forest corridors of Kainji Lake National Park. The victims were hastily buried amid ongoing terror . This assault followed a pattern: just days earlier, the group torched a nearby farm settlement, signaling their tightening grip on Kwara’s northern flank .

Military patrols—stationed in the area since April after the Chief of Army Staff’s operational visit—responded with gunfire but arrived too late. As one resident lamented, “The soldiers fired into the air, but they [terrorists] had already fled” . The incident exposes a fatal gap in the layered security strategy intended to protect Nigeria’s volatile forest reserves.

President Tinubu’s ambitious forest guard plan, approved just weeks ago, envisions arming 130,000 recruits to “flush out terrorists hiding in forests.” States were ordered to mobilize 2,000–5,000 personnel each, overseen by the Office of the National Security Adviser and the Environment Ministry . Yet Tuesday’s bloodshed underscores a critical flaw: the temporary removal of existing local defenders created openings for terrorists.

Local hunters, empowered by Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq’s provision of 25 motorcycles in April to support military operations, had previously contained Mahmuda’s movements. Their withdrawal to Ilorin left villages defenseless.

No contingency forces filled the vacuum during training, despite prior military arrests of 12 Mahmuda members in April proving the persistent threat .

The attack is not isolated. Sources confirm Mahmuda has seized swaths of territory beyond Kwara:  Full control of Kemanji village (10km from Kaiama town), with operations across Kemaanji, Tenebo, and Yashikira districts .  Occupation of Babana and Wawa Districts in Borgu LGA, transforming forests into strategic corridors for cross-border movement .

Residents report a mass exodus from villages, with both rich and poor fleeing toward Ilorin or Kaiama. “Everyone is afraid,” a source from Kemanji disclosed, drawing parallels to insurgency patterns in Sokoto and Kebbi .

While Army Chief Lt. Gen. Olufemi Oluyede relocated to Benue to lead anti-militia operations, Kwara’s villages felt abandoned . Governor AbdulRazaq’s motorcycle donation and visits now ring hollow to residents who see federal policy outpacing ground realities.

Security restructuring faces internal friction too. Retired General Peter Aro criticized the Forest Guard’s dual oversight by the NSA and Environment Ministry as bureaucratic and prone to “power struggles,” undermining paramilitary efficacy .