By Security forces fought their way into a kidnappers’ camp deep in Egume Forest, Ofu Local Government Area of Kogi State, freeing 15 National Youth Service Corps members and six other captives in an operation that stretched across several days. The Commissioner of Police in Kogi State, Naziru Kankarofi, laid out the details on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Tuesday.
The ordeal began on the Itobe-Ajaokuta Highway around 5:00 p.m., when the corps members, travelling from Bayelsa, entered Kogi State and were ambushed. They were dragged into the bush along with passengers from a second vehicle approaching from the opposite direction, Kankarofi said.
Once the alert reached security commanders, the response moved fast. An emergency meeting brought together the Brigade Commander, the Commissioner of Police, and the Director of the Department of State Services, and from there a search-and-rescue operation was mapped out and launched immediately. “As soon as we were alerted, we put all necessary measures in place to ensure they were rescued and returned to their families,” Kankarofi said.
Local vigilantes and hunters became central to the effort as the operation progressed, their knowledge of the terrain proving essential once security forces narrowed down the abductors’ likely location. “We fashioned out a search-and-rescue operation, which commenced immediately. As the situation unfolded, we narrowed down to a particular spot and sought the support of local vigilantes and hunters who know the terrain very well,” the commissioner said.
The operation, which began in earnest on Sunday, reached its climax on Monday afternoon. Around 4:00 p.m., military, police, DSS operatives, and the local hunters and vigilantes reached the kidnappers’ camp, where a fierce gun battle broke out. By the end of it, the captors had been overpowered, and every corps member was freed. Four suspected kidnappers were killed in the exchange, Kankarofi said, while several others fled with gunshot wounds. Two of the rescued captives, a corps member and a civilian abducted from the second vehicle, were also hit, both sustaining gunshot injuries to their right legs.
The job isn’t finished, as Kankarofi said security personnel remain stationed at the site, working to comb the area and track down the suspects who escaped. Kogi’s command has also reached out to its counterpart in neighbouring Enugu State, since the forest terrain leads directly into that state, to seal off possible escape routes on that end. “As I am talking to you now, all our officers, military, police, DSS operatives, and hunters are still at the operational theatre, and we are awaiting outcomes,” he said.
Despite the scale of the incident, Kankarofi was careful to frame it as an exception rather than a pattern, describing Kogi as a generally peaceful state where security forces respond quickly whenever trouble surfaces. He encouraged residents and travellers to keep moving through the state without fear, pointing to the presence of security personnel as reassurance that the road remains safe to use.
