Five Arrested After Grenade Attack on Army Camp in Oyo, Deputy Governor Deploys 120 Soldiers

Deputy Governor Bayo Lawal says surveillance aircraft are now active over the Igbeti axis as troops pursue the attackers who struck the 81 Battalion camp with grenade launchers.

Five suspects have been arrested in connection with a grenade attack on the Nigerian Army’s 81 Battalion camp in Igbeti, Oyo State, Deputy Governor Bayo Lawal announced Monday during an on-site assessment of the damage.

The attack occurred on September 13, when assailants fired grenade launchers at the camp in Olorunsogo Local Government Area. The explosions ignited cooking gas cylinders on the premises, destroying a building and an operational vehicle. No casualties were recorded.

Lawal, who visited the camp roughly 24 hours after the attack, said more than 120 soldiers had been deployed in pursuit of the attackers, who fled before reinforcements arrived. He said the state’s recently acquired surveillance aircraft had been activated to conduct reconnaissance sorties over the area.

“You will never be abandoned,” Lawal said, relaying a message from Governor Seyi Makinde to residents of the area.

The deputy governor did not disclose the identities of the five suspects now in custody or specify how they were apprehended, and did not describe them as having been convicted of any offence. He said an emergency committee comprising chairmen from five neighbouring local government areas had been established to coordinate support for security personnel operating in the area.

The attack is the latest in a series of security incidents in Oyo State’s Oke-Ogun axis, an area bordering forest reserves that have periodically provided cover for armed groups. It comes days after the state’s schools resumed for the new academic session, and coincides with a nationwide security alert warning of possible attacks on schools, places of worship and NYSC camps.

The Oyo State Government has not disclosed whether the five suspects are believed to be linked to any wider organised group, and investigations into the full circumstances of the attack are continuing.