Kogi Government Reacts to Rescue of 21 Kidnapped Victims

Kogi State authorities praised a coordinated security operation that rescued 21 people abducted along a road in Dekina Local Government Area. The victims, eight men and 13 women, were found after troops and other security personnel searched forest areas in response to reports of attacks on road users.

Troops from the Nigerian Army’s 12 Brigade carried out the operation with the police, State Security Service, local hunters and vigilante groups. The teams searched the Egume and Ochaja forests before locating and freeing all 21 victims. One of the rescued men had a gunshot wound and was taken to a medical facility.

Commissioner for Information and Communications Kingsley Fanwo said the rescue showed effective cooperation among security agencies. Governor Ahmed Ododo also commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the officials involved, including the National Security Adviser, the service chiefs and the Inspector-General of Police.

Ododo used the rescue to issue a defiant warning to armed groups. “Criminals will always regret stepping their feet on Kogi State. We will never wag our tails before cowards who take arms against the state. Kogi is always ready to obliterate any threat to lives and property in the state,” he said.

The operation followed several recent kidnapping incidents in Kogi. Authorities previously reported the rescue of people abducted on roads in Ofu and Dekina, as well as school and examination officials taken during an attack in Olowa. The latest rescue adds another large group of victims to those recovered from the state’s roads and forest corridors.

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Criminals will always regret stepping their feet on Kogi State. We will never wag our tails before cowards who take arms against the state. Kogi is always ready to obliterate any threat to lives and property in the state.