Rampaging gunmen abduct health worker, wife, others in Kogi community

By Richard Elesho.

For the first time in recent history, bandits have polluted the security atmosphere of Iluke, a major settlement in the Bunu district of Kabba-Bunu Local Government Area, Kogi State, abducting an unspecified number of persons.

The gunmen were said to have invaded the Oke Bukun area in the community in the dead of night at about 1 a.m., on Thursday, 21 May. They whisked away a community health worker popularly called ‘Dr. Ebi,’ (omo Kemuna) and his wife.

They allegedly carried the abductees on motorcycles. Once the victim who owned a clinic in Oferre was in their custody, the hoodlums sporadically released bullets as they escaped from town.

Iluke has been thrown into fresh fear because of the attack. In the same vein, people in nearby communities in MopAmuro and Ijumu LGAs woke up to the news, triggering panic among them.

Bunu district has suffered several untold security breaches in recent times.

On Monday, May 4, the non-state actors operated on the Iluke to Oferre road shooting randomly and scaring many people away. Jacob, an unsuspecting commercial driver, could not manoeuvre to safety when he suddenly bumped to them. He was forced to a halt and led to the bush at gun point. Kidnapped.

His tormentors eventually made contact with his family, making a demand of N50 million ransom for his release. A source familiar with the story said the gunmen have thus far stuck to their ground.

Before then, gunmen abducted two wives, two children, and an aide of ‘Prof. Wonder,’ the paramount ruler of Odai, a tiny agrarian community close to Iluke on Wednesday, 16 April. The gunmen demanded N150 million for their freedom.

When the ransom delayed in coming, the gunmen were said to have killed two of the monarch’s children over time with the display of the of the gory acts on the social media.

More than a month after the attack, the hapless monarch was said to have taken ill and hospitalised while his family remained in the jungle with their tormentor.

A source familiar with the case disclosed that the bandits recently demanded that the monarch must bring the ransom in person or risk losing the other abductees.

Efforts to get the police reaction on the attacks were unsuccessful. The Kogi State Police Command’s Public Relations Officer Saliu Afuzat Oyiza, an Assistant Superintendent of Police, ASP, promised to get back after making enquiries, but she had not as at press time.