Kogi confirms killing of notorious bandit behind school attack

Kogi State officials have confirmed the elimination of a notorious bandit leader, Ibrahim Batijo, who was allegedly behind a recent attack on a school in Iluke Bunu, Kabba/Bunu Local Government Area. The state's Commissioner for Information and Communications, Kingsley Fanwo, announced that Batijo was among several bandits killed in a coordinated security operation.

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It’s a process that took a very long time. Initially, we got intelligence that he wanted to attack our schools in Kogi State. And while we were working on getting him, we shut down our schools for more than three weeks.

Batijo was linked to an attack on the school that resulted in the deaths of three individuals, including a vice principal and a six-year-old child. Commissioner Fanwo stated that Batijo had been orchestrating plans to abduct students from multiple schools across Kogi State. He described the operation that led to the bandit leader's death as a major success in the ongoing efforts to address insecurity in the state.

Fanwo explained that intelligence indicated Batijo intended to attack schools in Kogi State, leading to a three-week closure of schools to prevent abductions. The bandits also targeted students preparing for the West African Secondary School Certificate Examination at GSS Iluke. Batijo was reportedly coordinating these strategies to facilitate kidnappings.

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It was painful, but they were unable to take our children away from the schools. And then we also learned that they were targeting the writing of the West African Secondary School Certificate Examination at a particular school, GSS Iluke, so that they would be able to kidnap all of those students. He was the one coordinating all of those strategies to be able to take those children away.

Kogi State has invested in high-tech intelligence gathering equipment, which allowed authorities to monitor Batijo's activities. Students were relocated from a remote area to the heart of Iluke town while security forces monitored Batijo's coordination efforts. On June 10, Batijo attacked Iluke with approximately 100 terrorists on about 40 motorcycles, attempting to abduct students from the school. The attack was foiled by local security architecture, supported by the military, police, and DSS, preventing the abduction of any students.

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But Kogi State has invested heavily in high-tech intelligence gathering equipment. We were able to monitor all of his activities. We moved our students from that remote place where the school is. The school is about three kilometres away from Iluke. They call the place Alara. So we moved it to the heart of Iluke town, and we were monitoring how Batijo was coordinating his people with the support of the military, the DSS, the police, and all of our local security architecture.

During the foiled attack, Batijo and a significant number of terrorists involved in the operation were neutralized. The commissioner highlighted that the state's security architecture provided the initial defense, with support from federal security forces.

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On June 10th, he (Batijo) struck. He went to Iluke with this very large number of people. About 40 motorcycles were used to carry about 100 terrorists to that place.