The Department of State Services (DSS) has raised the alarm over an imminent terrorist attack on some communities in Ondo and Kogi States by the Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP).
According to a confidential memo dated October 20, 2025, and addressed to the Brigade Commander of the 32 Artillery Brigade, Nigerian Army Corps of Artillery, Owena Cantonment, Akure, the DSS said credible intelligence indicated that ISWAP fighters were planning coordinated assaults on several communities.
The memo revealed that the terrorists had begun surveillance on soft targets in the affected areas. The DSS urged the military to heighten security operations and increase vigilance to prevent any attack.
“The level of security alertness across the identified communities should be immediately scaled up to avert loss of lives and property,” the agency warned.
This alert comes nearly three years after the June 2022 attack on St. Francis Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State, where over 40 worshippers were killed by suspected ISWAP militants.
Security experts have since expressed worry over the renewed spread of terrorist activities into southern Nigeria, noting that extremist elements appear to be expanding their reach beyond the North-East, where they have operated for over a decade.