Owa-Onire: Ghost Town Emerges as Banditry Drives Out Entire Community, One Man Left Behind
A security team of 100 men comprising the drone unit, MOPOL, and the Anti-Kidnapping Squad recently rolled into Owa-Onire, a community in Kwara State, only to find a ghost town. There were no markets, no voices, no children. Only empty compounds, a locked mosque, a quiet church, and one man standing in the middle of it all.
The operation was part of the Inspector General of Police’s push to screen the Kwara South forest belts, with troops moving through Ifelodun, Isin, Oke-Ero, and Ekiti Local Government Areas. But Owa-Onire stopped them cold – a town completely wiped clean.
The only person left is Lekan, a prince of the town. He now calls himself “the landlord.” The big mansion, the abandoned houses, the mosque, the church – all of it belongs to the crickets and to him.
Lekan did not stay out of courage. He stayed because “Bororo’s War” took everyone else. Bandits came repeatedly. Kidnappings became routine. Then they abducted the monarch himself and held him in the forest for months until a ransom was paid. After that, the people could no longer bear it. They locked their doors and left. Some went to Okeonigbin. Most simply disappeared into safer locations.
Owa-Onire is not alone. At least 28 communities in Ifelodun Local Government Area are now deserted. The same fate has swallowed Oro-Ago, Omugo, Ahun, Oke-Oyan, Owa-Kajola, Owa-Onire, and Oba in Isin LGA. Residents say over 23 villages have been overrun by suspected bandits. Ancestral homes stand empty. Farms rot. Towns have become names on a map with no one left to speak them.
Lekan survives by eating from his farm. There is nowhere to buy food, nowhere to buy anything. He is alone with his land and the memory of a town that once thrived.
The security team leader handed Lekan N10,000. He took it quietly and said he would go to Okeonigbin, the nearest place with a functioning market, to buy food supplies. He also told the team that people had entered the community the previous night. He did not know who they were or what they took. He only knew he heard them, and in the morning, nothing had changed. He was still alone.
Visibly disturbed by what they witnessed, senior officers from Abuja and Lagos stated that no Nigerian community should be reduced to such a state. They described the abandonment of Owa-Onire as a failure demanding immediate action and pledged to push for a sustained security presence and concrete measures to allow displaced residents to return home without fear.
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