Nigerian security officials said they suspect extremists from ISIS’s affiliate in west Africa behind the attack on St Francis Catholic church in Owo last Sunday that claimed 40 lives.
Though the figures are disputed, local authorities confirms that forty people have died and 61 survivors are still being treated in hospital following the brutal attack. ABC News reported that more than 80 people are feared to have died in Sunday's attack on a church in southwestern Nigeria, as per anonymous sources.
Dailypost Nigeria reported of the arrest of suspected attackers. The agency referred to a trending video that shows a crowd protesting within the palace of the Olowo of Owo, Oba Ajibade Ogunoye.
One of them could be heard saying: “They want to take them (suspects) to Akure. The youths are angry.”
There is no official confirmation of any arrest yet.
Nigeria’s National Security Council said that the attack was the work of the Iswap group, an affiliate of the ISIS. The revelations reinforce fears that the militants, who were till now restricted to the north-east for many years, are looking to expand their influence and reach to other parts of the country. Ondo, in the south-west, has long been considered one of the safer parts of the country.
Some analysts have however counselled caution, noting the absence of any claim of responsibility from Iswap.
“Iswap always claim big attacks, and always ones in the south,” said Vincent Foucher, a research fellow at the CNRS (National Centre of Scientific Research) in Paris. “They want to show they are strong and even expanding so they definitely would claim this one.”
He said, the modus operandi was different. “Most previous Iswap attacks have used hit-and-run tactics, not a big assault team as in this incident.”
Other possible perpetrators include militia involved in local conflicts, violence between farmers and herders, and even criminal networks.
The gunmen in the latest violence were “armed Fulani militia”, one resident said. “That is the language they were speaking. That was their outlook. They are not new to our environment because this is not the first time they were attacking.”
Neither the police nor Kaduna state officials have yet confirmed the attacks. The limited security presence in many remote communities makes it difficult for government forces to protect residents from the attacks or quickly arrest the perpetrators, analysts say.
Muhammadu Buhari, the Nigerian president, has been accused of not doing enough to end the country’s security problems, one of the main campaigns promises the former general made when he sought election in 2015. Buhari’s tenure as president ends in May 2023.
Hospitals in southwestern Nigeria say they are running out of supplies to treat survivors of Sunday's attack on a church.
In a sign of solidarity, a group of employees of the national power company pooled resources to buy bandages, disposable syringes and gloves, as well as cans of soft drinks, for the hospital.
The families of the victims say they do not know why a church service was targeted.
Victor Ogbu, a 13-year-old, said he and his brother escaped unharmed, only to discover later that their mother lay dead in a pool of blood in a church aisle. She was shot in her head while trying to escape the assailants.