Gunmen abduct council chairman, others on Kogi highway

Gunmen suspected to be bandits, on Sunday, kidnapped the chairman of Yagba East Local Government Area of Kogi State, Pius Kolawole and some others on Kogi highway.

It was learnt that the abduction of the chairman and others happened in a few hours after the gunmen killed Kogi State Commissioner for Pension Board, Adebayo Solomon.

The police confirmed the incident to newsmen on Sunday, noting that the slain commissioner was to be travelling from Ilorin to Kabba when his vehicle was said to have been shot at Eruku village, a few kilometres from Egbe, the border town between Kwara and Kogi states by some gunmen.

His remains had been deposited at ECWA Hospital, Egbe, while the whereabouts of Kolawole remained unknown.

Reacting to the incident, the Commissioner of Police in the state, Ayuba Ede, said an intensive investigation is on progress to unravel the perpetrators of the heinous act.

The abduction of the council chairman may not be unconnected with his concerted efforts to rid his local government area of hoodlums suspected to be herdsmen terrorising the council.

Kogi State has been experiencing cases of kidnapping and robberies, with many blaming the criminal activities on the deplorable section of the roads.

In recent times, many armed robbery attacks and kidnapping cases have been reported across the three senatorial districts of the state.

Just last week Sunday, police operatives attached to Ajaokuta Division rescued two kidnapped victims who spent four days in the kidnappers’ den.

Few days ago, the Senator representing Edo Central in the National Assembly, Clifford Ordia, was twice attacked on Okene-Lokoja and Lokoja-Abaji roads by bandits in Kogi State on his way to Abuja.

Ordia, who is the Senate Committee Chairman on Local and Foreign Debts, narrated his ordeal to reporters on April 28 in Abuja.

He said he was travelling along the Okenne-Lokoja and Lokoja-Abaji roads on Monday when the daredevil bandits opened fire on his convoy while returning to Abuja from his hometown in Edo State.

The lawmaker noted that during the exchange of fire between the criminals and the security operatives attached to him, three policemen sustained gun wounds.

He added that one of the wounded policemen was in a critical condition but responding to treatment in one of the hospitals in Abuja.