A combined team of troops from the Nigerian Army, the Department of State Services (DSS), and the Western Nigeria Security Network, popularly known as Amotekun, has eliminated a senior ISWAP leader, Abdussamad Ohida, in an intelligence-led operation carried out over the weekend in Owo forest, Ondo State. The ISWAP leader killed in the Owo forest has been identified as a key figure behind planned attacks targeting southern Nigeria.
Security expert Zagazola Makama disclosed this in a report shared on his official X handle on Monday. According to him, security sources revealed that Ohida, also known as Anwar, was killed alongside several other members of the terrorist group when security forces stormed their forest hideout in a surprise operation.
Makama’s sources described Ohida as a man who had risen through the ranks, having previously served as deputy to ISWAP’s Central Nigeria leader, Abu Ikrimah, popularly known as Abu Uwais, who was arrested by Nigerian security operatives back in 2023. Following Ikrimah’s arrest, Ohida took over command of ISWAP operations across parts of North-Central Nigeria and the southern region, where he went on to play a central role in planning, coordinating, and executing terrorist attacks.
It was through the interrogation of Abu Uwais that the DSS reportedly gathered credible intelligence pointing to Ohida’s plans to unleash violence on civilians during the upcoming Yuletide season.
“The plan was to attack civilians during the festive period and ultimately disrupt the 2027 general elections,” one source said, adding that the intelligence was further corroborated by partners from the United Kingdom, who supported the elimination operation.
According to Makama’s sources, the slain ISWAP leader killed in the Owo forest was also the mastermind behind the December 31, 2025, invasion of the Ipele Divisional Police Station in Owo, Ondo State, an attack in which his fighters made off with AK-47 rifles before blowing up the station with explosives.
The Backstory: ISWAP’s Growing Footprint in Nigeria’s South-West
For years, ISWAP’s activities were largely associated with the Northeast, particularly around the Lake Chad Basin. But security analysts have long warned of the group’s gradual expansion into other regions, including forest axes in North-Central and South-West Nigeria, areas once considered relatively safe from large-scale terrorist activity.
The Ipele police station attack in late 2025 served as a chilling reminder that these fears were not misplaced, exposing how deeply embedded elements of the terror group had become within Ondo State’s forest belts. Security operatives have since intensified intelligence gathering in the area, leading to this latest operation.
With elections approaching in 2027, security agencies appear increasingly focused on dismantling terror cells capable of destabilizing the electoral process, making this operation a significant, though likely not final, step in that direction.
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