Joint Army, DSS, Amotekun Operation Kills ISWAP Leader Planning Terrorist Attacks

An intelligence-led joint operation involving the Nigerian Army, the Department of State Services (DSS), and the Ondo State Western Nigeria Security Network (Amotekun) has neutralized a top Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) commander, Abdussamad Ohida, inside the Owo forest in Ondo State.

Security sources confirmed that Ohida, also known as “Anwar,” was killed alongside several other ISWAP operatives during a weekend raid on their forest camp. Intelligence revealed that Ohida was actively plotting major terrorist operations targeting southern Nigeria.

Ohida had previously served as deputy to Abu Ikrimah (also known as Abu Uwais), the former leader of ISWAP’s Central Nigeria wing who was arrested by the DSS in 2023. Following Ikrimah’s arrest, Ohida assumed command over ISWAP’s operational networks spanning parts of North-Central and Southern Nigeria.

Information extracted during Abu Uwais’s interrogation, corroborated by international intelligence partners in the United Kingdom, alerted security operatives to Ohida’s imminent plans to launch attacks against civilians during the upcoming Yuletide season and disrupt preparations for the 2027 general elections.

Security personnel linked Ohida to multiple high-profile attacks, including the December 31, 2025 raid on the Ipele Divisional Police Station in Owo, where eight AK-47 rifles were stolen before the building was bombed.

He was also implicated in the July 2022 attack on a military checkpoint along the Suleja-Zuba Road in Niger State, the July 2022 raid on the Kuje Correctional Centre in Abuja, the April 2022 attack on Ogaminana Police Station in Kogi State that killed five officers, and a December 2020 ambush on a Naval checkpoint in Okene.

Security experts, referencing the Sahel Security Report, noted that Ohida’s death—following the earlier elimination of ISIS commander Abu Bilal al-Minuki—deals a crippling blow to ISWAP’s strategic expansion into central and southern Nigeria.

While security agencies have yet to issue a formal press release, sources confirmed that the joint operation successfully dismantled a major operational node of the terror group.