Four mourners, comprising a mother and her three children were among the nine persons allegedly kidnapped by gunmen at Inele-Ugoh in Igah Ikeje community of Olamaboro local government of Kogi state.
The incidence took place early hours of Friday when gunmen numbering over forty stormed the community.
The woman and her three children were said to be heading to another community for burial when the gun overan them and captured them and took them into the forest.
Five other victims were reportedly abducted on their farms by the gunmen.
Eye witness said the population of the gunmen and the weapon they carry even scared the vigilante group from confronting the gunmen.
The community quickly sent a distress calls to troops of 12 Brigade Nigeria Army who were located at a check-point within the community to help. But the soldier came late after the gunmen had disappeared into the forest.
Though the troops and local vigilante members are already combing the forests for the safety of the victims, members of the community said unless there is deployment of drones and police helicopter from Lokoja, the troops alone may not easily locate the location of the bandits.
The local community police said, “This group of bandits are going about in large numbers, they could be up to 200 and they share themselves into two groups. They don’t stay in one location, they kept moving their captive from one location to another. Troops can only succeed when there is support from the air space. So, a drone or the police helicopter is required to root out these criminals from our community. We will not enjoy Christmas if these criminals remain in our forests”
Members of the Kogi East Neighborhood Watch (KENW) has reported that kidnappers have concentrated their criminal activities in Olamaboro communities in recent times. “The gunmen are obviously infiltrating the locality from neighbouring states. They gunmen are operating in good numbers and are heavily armed”.
Another resident said, “These are bandits, they are very desperate and audacious, operating day and night. We need more deployment and air surveillance by the state and federal government to curtail the menace of these criminals”.
However, Kogi state police command is yet to respond to calls for the confirmation of the attack as their line could not be reached at the time of this report.
