The executive chairman of Adavi local government council, Hon. Joseph Omuya Salami, has called on residents to to remain calm and stay indoors at night.
The council chairman made the call in reaction to the abduction two students of Kogi State Polytechnic (Itakpe campus) and a staff of Confluence University of Science and Technology (CUSTECH), Osara during the late hours on Sunday.
He stated that the local government council had engaged communities and stakeholders on the need to be security conscious and halt night activities.
“Long before now, we had held series of meetings with the people of Osara community and entire farm center. We told them to restrict every night activities for now, and whoever want to hold any activity in the night should get appropriate quarters informed and also get their approval to ensure that adequate security is provided, but out of their disobedience, they choose otherwise.
“We all know the security challenges of this country, and the administration under the leadership of His Excellency, Governor Yahaya Adoza Bello is doing everything humanly possible to keep Kogi State safe, protect lives and property. So, all hands must be on deck to strengthen the peace in our various communities,” he said.
According to community sources, the university staff and polytechnic students were kidnappers by suspected Fulani herdsmen at a Living Faith Church located in Osara community, Adavi LGA, during a night rehearsal.
The kidnappers were said to have swooped on them right by the church after their rehearsals and forcefully dragged them into the forest.
The source described the highway as “very dangerous to ply for motorists’ especially those on night journeys.”
He said in this year alone, not less than 12 cases of robbery and kidnaping have been recorded in the area and said the communities living around the highway are daily living in fear
He also called on the state government, the police and other security agencies in the state to do more to arrest the security situation in the state.
Meanwhile, the pastor of the Living Faith church, Pastor Gabriel, when invited for questioning by Osara Police Division, said he was not aware of any rehearsals holding in the church as at the time they were abducted.
The Pastor added that all their church programmes do end at 4:00 PM.
“I am base in Zango Danji and we were told not to hold any late activity in the church and we have been abiding by it. Even at that, yesterday was Sunday, after our morning service we closed the church and handed over the key to a nearby house where we normally kept it. I was shocked when the information got to me today that three members of my church went behind to hold a night program without my knowledge.
“The church also has rules and no member is allowed to hold any activity in the church without my permission,” Pastor Gabriel stated.
