Suspected armed men on Tuesday night attacked the Nigeria Immigration Service office in Ogbomoso, Oyo State, and reportedly made away with firearms belonging to officers on duty, in what observers describe as another sign of the worsening security situation in parts of the South-West.
The attack occurred at about 10 p.m. at the Immigration office located along the Ogbomoso–Ilorin New Expressway, near the NNPC Filling Station.
Sources said the assailants stormed the facility while activities were still ongoing at the nearby Ayanyan Cattle Market. During the operation, the gunmen reportedly overpowered officers on duty and carted away an unspecified number of service rifles before fleeing into the night.
Although no casualty was immediately reported, the incident has heightened fears over the increasing boldness of armed groups targeting both civilians and security institutions across Oyo State and other parts of the South-West.
When contacted, the spokesperson of the Oyo State Police Command, CSP Olayinka Ayanlade, said he had not been briefed on the incident.
The attack came on the same day that the younger sister of former Minister of Power and APC gubernatorial aspirant, Adebayo Adelabu, Mrs. Olaide Busayo Adegoke John-Paul, and her 12-year-old twin sons, Peter and Paul, were abducted by gunmen in the Elewura area of Challenge, Ibadan.
According to a statement issued by Adelabu’s media aide, Comrade Femi Awogboro, the victims were kidnapped at about 7:30 a.m. while Mrs. John-Paul was on her way to drop the children at school. Security agencies have since launched efforts to secure their release.
The latest incidents also come barely three weeks after more than 40 teachers and students were kidnapped during a coordinated attack on Ahoro-Esiele in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State on May 15, 2026. The victims are yet to regain their freedom.
The succession of high-profile attacks within a short period has intensified concerns about the growing activities of terrorist-linked groups, bandits, and other organized criminal networks in the South-West. Security experts have repeatedly warned that the region’s expansive forests and strategic links to neighbouring states have made it increasingly vulnerable to infiltration by armed groups fleeing military operations in other parts of the country.
In recent years, security agencies have conducted operations against suspected terrorist cells and criminal gangs in forest reserves stretching across Oyo, Kwara, Ondo, Ekiti, and neighbouring states. Several arrests and recoveries of weapons have reinforced concerns that extremist elements are seeking to establish operational footholds in parts of the region.
Analysts note that attacks on security facilities, such as the raid on the Immigration office, are particularly troubling because they suggest attempts by criminal or terrorist groups to acquire weapons and weaken state security presence. The theft of firearms from security personnel is often viewed as a strategic move aimed at strengthening the operational capacity of armed groups.
Residents have called on both federal and state authorities to strengthen intelligence gathering, improve inter-agency collaboration, and intensify security operations across vulnerable communities and forest corridors.
With the kidnapping of Adelabu’s sister and her children, the continued captivity of the Oriire teachers and students, and the latest attack on a federal security facility in Ogbomoso, concerns are mounting that Oyo State is witnessing an increasingly coordinated pattern of insecurity that mirrors trends previously associated with other conflict-prone regions of the country.
As of the time of filing this report, investigations into the Immigration office attack were ongoing, while security agencies continued efforts to rescue the kidnapping victims and apprehend those responsible for the attacks.
