Who is Sadiku? The Boko Haram commander behind the Woro killings

The massacre that tore through Woro, a remote community in Kaiama Local Government Area of Kwara State, on Tuesday was neither sudden nor random. According to findings by The Punch, the killings were the climax of a carefully executed jihadist expansion led by Abubakar Saidu, better known as Sadiku.

Security sources and intelligence reports traced the attack — which left an estimated 176 people dead — directly to Sadiku, a veteran terrorist commander whose rise spans more than a decade and multiple regions of northern Nigeria.

For years, Sadiku operated quietly within Nigeria’s insurgency landscape. That changed as investigations revealed a 12-year trajectory that began in 2014, when he emerged as a trusted lieutenant of the late Abubakar Shekau, the notorious head of Boko Haram.

Shekau personally deployed Sadiku to Niger State to expand Boko Haram’s influence beyond its traditional North-East strongholds. Intelligence sources told The Punch that Sadiku’s assignment formed part of a broader strategy to open new fronts as sustained military pressure weakened insurgent camps in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa.

By the early 2020s, Sadiku had shifted westward, embedding himself in forest corridors stretching across Niger and Kwara states. From there, he built operational cells, disrupted farming communities, displaced families and steadily tightened his grip on rural settlements.

Security analysts now describe him as the “Shekau of the North-Central”.

At one point, Sadiku aligned with notorious bandit leader Dogo Gide, using the partnership to access weapons, intelligence and supply routes. The alliance later collapsed over ideological differences, sparking violent clashes that killed fighters on both sides.

After the split, Sadiku withdrew deeper into the forests. In July 2025, intelligence reports placed him firmly inside the Kainji Forest Reserve, where he established a new operational base.

From that moment, observers said, Sadiku abandoned transactional banditry and adopted a rigid, ideologically driven campaign modelled after Boko Haram’s earlier phase.

Weeks before the Woro massacre, Sadiku’s group made contact.

The village head, Salihu Umar, told The Punch that a letter dated January 8 — written in Hausa and signed by JAS (Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’adati wal-Jihad) — was delivered to him. The letter requested a “private” meeting with community leaders for preaching purposes and assured residents they would not be harmed.

Umar said he photocopied the letter and forwarded it to the Kaiama Emirate and the Department of State Services (DSS) office in Kaiama.

No preventive action followed.

Eyewitness accounts cited by The Punch said the gunmen arrived in Woro around 5pm on motorcycles, armed with AK-47 rifles, pump-action guns and explosives. They sealed off all exit routes and attacked key locations simultaneously.

By 6pm, the attackers had stormed the emir’s palace, dragged out his family and set the building on fire. Sporadic gunfire echoed across the town as residents fled into nearby bushes and farmlands.

Survivors said the operation then entered an execution phase. Fighters rounded up men, bound their hands behind their backs and killed them at close range. Motorists on the federal road passing through the community were also intercepted and shot.

Residents reported seeing a helicopter briefly hover over the area without intervening. A military aircraft later forced the attackers to withdraw temporarily. When it left, the gunmen regrouped, used the call to prayer as a ruse to draw people out of hiding and resumed the killings.

The violence continued until about 2am, when the attackers retreated into the forest with abducted women and children.

A survivor, ZulQharnain Shero Musa, told The Punch that the attackers moved house to house in a highly coordinated operation that lasted for hours.

“They came in hundreds, mostly on motorcycles, and they were heavily armed,” he said. “There was no security presence when they arrived.”

Another survivor, Aliyu Abdul Hamid Jogodo, said the attackers kidnapped his friend’s mother and killed the brother of his employer, the officer-in-charge of the Woro Primary Health Care centre.

Women also told reporters that some of the attackers wore full military-style gear. One was reportedly a woman carrying ammunition, a disguise that delayed suspicion.

The village head said soldiers arrived around 3am, nearly 10 hours after distress calls began. By then, the attackers had fled.

A senior intelligence officer told The Punch that the gunmen planted explosives along access roads, slowing rescue efforts after a military vehicle hit an improvised device.

Security officials said the remoteness of Woro, its proximity to Niger State and the Benin Republic, and the forested terrain worked in Sadiku’s favour.

Security researchers told The Punch that the Woro killings followed patterns seen in earlier attacks linked to Sadiku in parts of Niger State, confirming a deliberate southward push from the Kainji axis.

For them, the massacre was not an isolated atrocity but the outcome of years of unchecked expansion by a commander who moved quietly, warned his targets, and struck when he believed the state could not stop him.

In Woro, Sadiku did not just attack a village — he announced that a new jihadist front had arrived in Nigeria’s North-Central region.

Oluwatosin Ogunjuyigbe is a writer and journalist who covers business, finance, technology, and the changing forces shaping Nigeria’s economy. He focuses on turning complex ideas into clear, compelling stories.

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