People of Ogbe community have appealed to the Kogi State government to urgently come to their rescue and deploy security personnel to halt the constant abduction and killing of their people.
They also appealed to Executive Chairman of Yagba West Local Government to urgently address the security challenges facing the community.
Ogbe community appeal came in the wake of the latest attacks that occurred in the early hour of yesterday, 25th January 2025, which led to brutally murdered of innocent man.
In a statement issued by one of the community leaders, Chief Leke Akogun, the community lamented that constant attacks have left residents in fear for their lives, prompting many to stay indoor without going to their daily activities.
“Ogbe ward, a peaceful place where farming and economic activities thrive in Yagba West, has now become a hotspot for kidnappers. The recent attack on the farmers is a stark reminder of the deteriorating security situation in our area.”
The councillor representing Ogbe ward, Hon. Toyin Samuel appealed to the Chief Security Officer of Yagba West to come to their rescue of the endangered communities that have suffered brutal attacks and constant killings of his people.
The Minority Leader ofnKogi state House Of Assembly, Otunba Ibikunle Idowu commended the Executive Governor of Kogi State, Alhaji Ahmed Usman Ododo for his robust approach in combating security challenges in Yagba West, he added that he has made significant strides in addressing Yagba West security challenges, with prioritisation of joint and collaborative efforts that created the atmosphere for Kogi State vigilante and other security personnels.
He also commends the senator representing the good people of Kogi West, Senator Sunday Karimi for his leadership approach towards his senatorial district and the recent construction of military base in the area to address the rising insecurity in Yagba axis.
Otunba Ibikunle Idowu added that;
“I have made several appealed for security personnel for my people, but only two local government hunters has been assigned to Ogbe ward while the community employed ten (10) to secure the entire community, this issue of insecurity has made all our farmers run for their safety, kidnappers are threatening them on daily basis to demand for millions of naira before they can allow them to return to farm.
“This same set of kidnappers are the one that killed two local government vigilante assigned to Ogbe ward in 2024, since then we have been appealing to the local government authority for more security personnel to secure the lives and properties of our people, as we all know Ogbe is the food basket of Yagba west, we have requested for more Local government hunters, but the authority granted us two from local government.
In a community that is surrounded and sharing boundaries with Kwara, Ekiti and Ondo States with allocation of two local government hunters, we were told that five local government hunters were assigned to Ogbe ward, but we only seen two of them,where are the remaining hunters, and aside, five security is not enough to secure the lives and properties of Ogbe people, community that employed over ten hunters and they are the one financing them on a weekly basis.
Many families have endured severe losses due to these repeated attacks, emphasizing that swift intervention by the military and government is the community’s only hope for survival.
“I have also reached out to His Excellency Alhaji Ahmed Usman Ododo and the concerned stakeholders in Kogi state to come to our rescue on this continuous attack of kidnappers in our area.
“I appeal to our friendly working governor to intervene and rescue Ogbe community, which have been subjected to brutal violence and continuous killings,” Ibikunle said.