Kwara North, Your Deafening Silence Over the Horrific Killing of 100 Vigilantes in Edu/Patigi is Appalling

By Abdulyekeen, Mohd Bashir.

Yesterday, I stumbled upon a revelation so shocking it left me confused, angry, and perturbed. It was Dr Sanusi Lafiagi, who disclosed on his Facebook page that just a few months ago, close to 100 vigilante members from Edu and Patigi local government areas of Kwara were massacred in cold blood by daredevil bandits, all in a single day. He shared harrowing images of some of the fallen men and noted that it took more than a week before some of their bodies could even be retrieved by their families for burial.

Later, NupekoTV-Lafiagi, a Kwara North-based local news outlet, corroborated Dr. Sanusi’s account. According to their report, over a hundred youths and vigilantes had mobilised to defend their communities from terrorists who had been unleashing terror through kidnappings, killings, and the destruction of farmland Tragically, they were ambushed by the bandits and slaughtered.

From my findings, this horrific incident occurred in July, just over two months ago. And yet, to my dismay, there was no outcry. No widespread mourning, no social media mention of it, even from the most active media guys from Kwara North, no protests, no urgent calls for justice. It didn’t even make the news. A hundred lives snuffed out in just one night, and Patigi, Edu, and the whole of Kwara North remained largely silent. “Who or what sponsored the silence,” I wondered in silence.

This silence is not only baffling, it is shameful. The men who died were not mere victims, they were community defenders. They put their lives on the line to confront the very menace that has tormented their people for months with no end in sight. They paid the ultimate price for their bravery, yet their sacrifice went unacknowledged. In saner climes, fallen heroes of this magnitude would have been honoured with memorials and national recognition. Instead, their deaths vanished into obscurity, erased by the silence of their own people.

Now, contrast the Kwara North killings with the recent tragedy in Oke-Ode, Kwara South, where about 15 men were killed by bandits that some government officials usually refer to as non-state actors. The community erupted in outrage, the region spoke with one voice, and the incident drew national headlines, with different national leaders talking about it. That, perhaps, forced our absentee and incompetent governor to take some of the few actions he has taken in the last few days. If the death of 15 men could command such attention and force leaders to take notice, how can the death of over 100 men in Kwara North pass without a whisper?

Why did Kwara North fail to speak? Was it fear? Was it for political considerations? A culture of silence? Or was it the State government that deliberately killed the story? None of these excuses can justify the abandonment of their fallen brothers. Silence in the face of such carnage is not neutrality, it is complicity. By failing to raise their voices, the people of Kwara North betrayed the memory of those who died defending them. Shame on all those who had a voice but chose not to speak up, including the shameless Kwara North stakeholders, who gathered recently in Ilorin, not to deliberate on the worsening security crisis bedeviling their communities, but to speak on the selfish agenda of some desperate politicians.

Silence is not golden when lives are lost in an avoidable and brutal manner. Silence emboldens the killers, erases the victims, and prepares the ground for future atrocities. The massacre in Edu and Patigi deserved not just outrage, but action. Community leaders, youth, civil society groups, and politicians, especially those from Kwara North should have demanded justice, accountability, and support for the bereaved families. Instead, they allowed the blood of the victims to dry unnoticed.

Kwara North must do better. Its people must refuse to normalise mass killings or treat the deaths of their own as expendable statistics. If nothing is done, history will remember not just the brutality of the bandits, but also the silence of a people who refused to honour their heroes. The over 100 fallen vigilantes of Edu and Patigi deserve more than silence. They deserve remembrance, honour, and justice. And until their own people rise to demand it, the tragedy will remain an unhealed wound, a stain on the conscience of Kwara North. May their memories be a blessing.

Abdulyekeen, Mohd Bashir, a Kwara-born political analyst writes from Ilorin.