1. The Kogi State Government under the leadership of Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo is rising to the challenge of defeating the torrent of criminality waged against our dear state in the last one month.
2. It is believed that the torrent of attacks on insurgents, bandits and kidnappers in the North East has dislodged them and many of them are now trying to find their feet in the North Central but the Kogi State Government is deploying an iron-cast approach to safeguarding the state from the fangs of criminals.
3. With the rescue of 21 out of the 24 Custech students kidnapped last week so far, the State Government made a clear statement that Kogi will be ruthless against criminals in the State. This morning, we also received the heart-warming report of the rescue of the Yagba West woman that was kidnapped and another woman from Yagba East Local Government Area. We are still searching frantically for the 3 remaining students yet to be rescued as every Kogite’s life is important to the government. We have also secured the release of scores of kidnapped victims who are not even Kogites but who were kidnapped in their various states and taken to the forests.
4. The Governor also has approved the immediate employment of thousands of local hunters across the 21 Local Government Areas, with the immediate task of going after the criminals and taking the fight to their camps and hideouts, which is already yielding positive results.
5. Also, the Joint Forces of the Army, Police, DSS, NSCDC, Metropolitan Response Squad and Hunters Group are currently carrying our simultaneous operations in Lokoja as well as across the three Senatorial Districts, including our border communities.
6. Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo has silently declared war on criminals in the state and deploying resources and forces to ensure the enemies of our people are defeated. The Governor also expresses profound gratitude to the President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR for his support and encouragement to make Kogi a crime free state.
7. We want to assure our people that the Government is working hard to protect everyone and that the criminals are learning in a hard way that Kogi won’t be a ground for their criminal trade. The criminals are rattled and they won’t escape justice.
8. As the Government puts everything into winning this war against criminality, we urge the citizens to also play their part by volunteering intelligence to security agencies for the effective security of our dear State.
