Kogi: A ‘gateway’ under attack

As a state that shares borders with no less than nine states, serving as a major link between the North and South, Kogi State has become a significant route for thousands who pass through it to get to their destinations on a daily basis.

For years the state has been the route through which goods including food stuff, livestock, building materials, pharmaceuticals etc, are conveyed to different parts of the country.

Of late, however, Weekend Trust correspondents have observed that the flourishing peaceful life associated with the Confluence State now hangs in the balance as criminal groups have taken advantage of the centrality of the state to waylay and abduct people for ransom.

Residents confirmed to our correspondent that suspected bandits have infiltrated the state from neighbouring states of Niger and Kwara, and sometime in connivance with some locals to terrorize communities, kidnap people within communities and along the roads.

Such activities have increased in the last four months in the five local governments in the Western senatorial district that has Yagba East, Yagba West, Ijumu, Kabba and Bunu, extending to parts of Lokoja, the state capital.

Our correspondents observed that the emotional toll has been mounting with families fleeing in droves from their homes. Farmers are abandoning farmlands while travellers have been gripped with endless fears while navigating through the state. This has resulted in the grinding of economic activities in the state also.

The abduction and killing of an elderly woman, Mrs Elizabeth Olorunshola, from Ilafin- Isanlu community in Yagba East on November 9, 2025, from her house evoked emotions.

Babagbemi Oyewole, a resident of Isanlu described Mrs Olorunshola as an upright woman that had given a lot to the community. “Unfortunately, she went down due to a stroke, making her to be indoors for months,” he said.

The gruesome murder of the elderly woman was greeted with condemnation by stakeholders, including the local government chairman, Joshua Dare Monday, community association, Ilafin Development Association (IDA) president, Idowu Awe and lawmakers from the region including Representative Leke Abejide and Senator Sunday Karimi. Youths also took to the streets in protest.

Six month earlier, on May 15, 2025, a 94-year-old traditional ruler of Ofoloke in Yagba West, Oba James Dada Ogunyanda, was kidnapped from his palace by heavily armed men. The traditional ruler spent 27 days in the custody of his assailants before regaining freedom on June 11, 2025.

Some residents said beyond the trauma lies heaps of woes and grief that befell the peaceful community since about thirteen years ago when criminals announced their presence in the area.

Elder Aremu Ajiboye in Egbe, said his community had been witnessing stages of criminal activities from armed robberies to herders/ farmers’ clash to the present banditry and terrorism.

“It all started with bombing of banks, which many took as a mere robbery incident being orchestrated by idle hands. Before the uproar that greeted the bank robberies could die down, their activities shifted to attack on churches and police stations.  Presently, the hoodlums are visiting our communities and roads with terror, seizing our lands, demeaning our much cherished traditional institution and leaders, with no respect for the sanctity of our women and elders. We now leave in fear.

“In the past four months, in seemingly coordinated attacks , the invading bandits have sacked several villages, kidnapping  the influential, poor, rich  and innocent, with some killed in the process,  including  traditional rulers, clergy men, police and other security operatives”, he said .

Communities under attacks

Bandits have serially unsettled several communities in Yagba land, leading to many residents relocating to areas they consider relatively safe. Communities such as  Egbe, Ogbe, Ogga, Omi, Isanlu-Esa, Okoloke and Okunran, have remained vulnerable to bandits attacks consistently.

The mineral deposits in the communities of Omowa Mopo, Ilafin and Oke-Ilero in Isanlu community where gold, granite and kaolin are found in commercial quantity are attracting attacks daily, Weekend Trust gathered. Settlements that share borders with Niger and Kwara states are also constantly being raided.

Our correspondent  gathered that residents in the settlements of  Ilafin-, Odogba, Ilotin, Iye, that share boundary with Kwara and Niger states at Yagba East end and communities like Isanlu, Esa, Okoloke-Egba, Okunran at Yagba West are badly affected, with many relocating to other safer locations to evade terrorism.

All socio-economic activities have come to an abrupt end in the majority of settlements sharing boundary with some communities under attacks by bandits.

“Public and private schools have been forced to shut down as inhabitants have relocated their wards/ family to relatively safe areas either in the state or to other states,” said Debora, a resident of Ilafin, who relocated to Lokoja recently.

A resident of Ogbe, neighbouring town of Egbe, at the boundary with Kwara, Lanlege Adewale, from Yagba community was abducted about five months ago. He had his hands chopped off by his abductors, who did not demand ransom.

“The bandits seized my brother and four others while on their way to Ilorin from Ogbe in the month of May. Three of them were women. They took them into a bush that links Kogi with Ekiti and Kwara states, and cut off his hands,” Olaoye Adeola, a native of Egbe said.

Spate of attacks in Aiyotoro Kiri, Odo-Ape and Ole communities in Kabba / Bunu Local Government Area of the state have continued.

Motorist and commuters’ ordeal

For months, particularly since March this year, the spate of kidnapping have continued to increase steadily on the highways in the state putting travellers on edge. Travellers in buses, elders of communities and people with relatively sound economic standing remain target.

Data accessed by our correspondent shows that Kogi recorded 212 out of 3,312 that were kidnapped in the last one year. Also, the state accounted for 35 out 2,538 victims recorded dead in the same period.

The data also indicated that Kogi falls behind Katsina on number four while Zamfara and Niger states take first and second position with Sokoto on number five in the list of areas with the most attacks.

In some cases, kidnap victims have been killed despite payment of ransom. A 76-year- old  Major Joshua Musa (rtd) and  a clergyman, Pastor David Musa, were killed in such circumstances.

Major Musa( rtd), abducted from his residence on May 21  at Odo-Ape in Kabba/Bunu area, paid N10 million as ransom  while N1 million was paid as ransom for  Pastor David Musa, a  clergyman with the Evangelical Church.

On November 10, 2025, six directors from a federal ministry were kidnapped between Kaba-Lokoja highway, four reportedly made it back home, the fate of two others remain unknown, even after an alleged payment of  N150 million as ransom.

According to the Chairman of Kogi NGO Network (KONGONET) Hamza Aliyu, the state has historically grappled with occasional criminal activities due to its strategic location linking the North and South.

He said recent patterns indicate a more coordinated and frequent wave of insecurity, stressing that in some cases, bandits have occupied nearby forests, using them as bases to launch attacks on villages and travellers.

“There has been a surge in kidnappings for ransom, particularly along major transportation routes such as the Kabba–Obajana–Lokoja corridor, the Abuja–Lokoja expressway, remote areas of Yagba East, Yagba West, Ijumu, Okene, and Kogi (Koton-Karfe).

“These incidents involve highway ambushes, abduction of commuters, invasion of communities, and targeted attacks on farmers and traders. This has increased fear among residents and disrupted local economic activities”, he said.

Several motorists in Lokoja say the situation is not beyond solution, describing it as man-made challenge that can, with collective resolve, be surmounted.

“Roads are no longer safe. People have reduced the rate of their travelling. Many even prefer to make calls than to travel these days because of the fear of bandits’ attack. Last week I spent almost five hours along the Lokoja -Oshokoshoko -Kabba road as bandits took over.

“That road is a busy corridor for travellers from Lagos and part of the West and Midwest. Unfortunately, kidnapping happens there almost every day”, said a chairman of NURTW at one of the parks in Lokoja, who craved anonymity.

He said no route is safe now, stressing that the most dreaded road remains, Lokoja -Obajana -Kabba; Ayere -Kabba; Kabba -Isanlu-Egbe and Itobe -Ajegwu- Anyigba.

Mining connection

Weekend Trust gathered that a major driver of violence in the Confluence State, particularly in the Yagba land has been attributed to the presence of rich mineral deposits in commercial quantity.

Investors and interest groups of different shades are said to be employing all kind of tactics in the bid to outdo one another in the exploitation of mineral resources.

An insider told our correspondent that groups within and outside the country have been battling to take control of sites they consider lucrative.

“Exploration over the years has shown that the region is rich in mineral deposits, including, lithium, gold, granite and kaolin, among others. We cannot divorce the ugly incident in that part of the state from the intrigues associated with the hustlers of the mining products”, said Dr Khalid AbdulSalam, a miner in the region.

Sincerity Mining And Construction Co Ltd, a registered Nigerian Company with Registration No RC 1091756, dated 22nd January 2013, in an exploration report exposed the quality and quantity of the mineral deposits in the Kogi West region.

The exploration report noted abundance deposit in quality of Nickel, Chromium, Cobalt, Copper, Barium, Marble, Gold and Lithium in the region.

Unfortunately, the discovery that is supposed to be a blessing to the region has seemingly sounded the death knell in the West district, particularly in Yagba land, a source said.

Measures taken to curb the menace

As part of the measures to tackle the menace, Kogi State governor, Ahmed Ododo, directed all social, religious, and community activities to end at 4pm daily. He also vowed to carry the fight to the hideout of the terrorists, rather than waiting for them to continue to torment the people on the roads and communities.

Dawn to dusk curfew have been introduced in virtually all the local governments in the state as well. The security operatives; the army, police , DSS and others in collaboration with hunters and vigilante groups have intensified surveillance and attacks in several forests where kidnap victims are being rescued daily.

ISWAP connection

Records show that Kogi has been a hotbed for fundamentalists for decades, targeting police stations, worship centres and banks.

Around 2012, the Department of State Services (DSS) reportedly gave a hint about the presence of  the Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP) cell in the central district, particularly in Okene, Kogi State,

The operatives later arrested an alleged commander of an  ISWAP group  in the state, one Abdulmumin Otaru, in January 2023,  linking him  to an explosion near the palace of the Ohinoyi of Ebiraland in Okene.

Several security records linked most of the deadly attacks that occurred in the region and in the West axis between 2012 to 2023 to the fundamentalists’ onslaught.  In most cases, the ISWAP owned up the attacks within 24hours.

In February 2022, gunmen attacked the Okene Area Command, killing one person, Eika-Ohizenyi, a police station in Okehi Local Government Area was invaded in June 2022,  where a police inspector was killed.

Again, five police officers were killed on April 23, 2022, when gunmen suspected to be members of ISWAP attacked a police station in Okene.

Less than 24 hours after the attack, an Islamic sect claimed responsibility on Voice of America broadcast, claiming that its fighters had targeted other police stations in other areas for more attacks.

On August 7, 2012, unidentified gunmen armed with AK-47 rifles attacked a church in Ogaminana, Adavi Local Government Area, during service, killing 20 worshipers.

Three days after, the then Kogi State Commissioner of Police, Alhaji Muhammed Musa Katsina, paraded three suspects at the police headquarters in Lokoja, claiming to be linked to the sect and masterminds of the church attack.

In the period between 2020 and 2021, armed men attacked police stations and commercial banks in Egbe, Okene, Isanlu , kabba ,Odo ere  on multiple occasions. Some of the affected banks remain closed till date, Weekend Trust gathered.

In two recorded raids, 10 police officers, including a Divisional Police Officer (DPO) and five passers -by were killed on June 5, 2020 at Isanlu, while three persons, including two security guards and a lady lost their lives at Egbe and Odo Ere in an attack on December 14, 2021.

The prevailing attacks in the state are seen by many as an off shoot of the earlier attacks carried out by the fundamentalists years back.

It is worthy of note that within 11 days, between September 10 to 21, 2025,  the state police command lost nine of its operatives to bandits in Egbe, Isanlu and Abugi  in Yagba West, East and Lokoja local governments respectively

Five were  killed  at a road block on September 21, while three others and a vigilante member lost their lives in Egbe  on 10th September,  2025, in another road block attack.

The state’s Police Public Relations Officer, CSP William Aya, said the new commissioner of police, CP Naziru Bello Kankarofi, has set the ball rolling to curb the menace.

The police spokesperson stated that CP Kankarofi has taken proactive steps to boost security in the state, including meeting with operational officers, professional bodies and stakeholders in communities under attack.

CPS Aya stressed further that the CP has ordered deployment of tactical teams, including Police Mobile Force, counter terrorism, Quick Response and Intelligence units, to strategic locations across the state to stem the criminal activities.

He said additional security assets have been deployed to carry out operations and meet any unforeseen situations in critical areas.

Recently, CP Kankarofi, in the company of the state’s Security Adviser, Commodore Jerry Omodara (rtd), embarked on a patrol to reassure the people of Kogi of their safety at the bandits infested areas of the state.

“The command has embarked on a confidence-building patrol along Obajana, Kabba, and Ayere road to boost morale and security in the area.

“He has visited various communities, such as Adankolo, Zango, Crusher, as well as Felele, Secondary Schools, and Kogi State Polytechnic, Lokoja, to build public confidence and assure safety.

“The command is working to introduce the use of technology for mopping up arms and ammunition in order to address arms proliferation and to reduce insecurity challenges”, he said.

The Kogi State government also restated its commitment to ensure the challenge posed by the bandits’ invasion in the state is curtailed.

The state’s Commissioner for Information and Communication, Kinsley Fanwo, stated that the government has rolled out measures that will address the problem.

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