The Executive Secretary, Yagba West Local Government Area Education Authority, Hon Michael Jude Ogunjobi has congratulated Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State on the numerous awards bestowed upon him over his outstanding performance on security in the state and the impact his efforts has made on the North Central geopolitical region and the country.
The ES in charge of Yagba West also lauded the efforts of the Chairman of the Council, Asiwaju Pius Kolawole “for placing Yagba West LGA as number one on the Kogi State Security top chat by keying into the Kogi New Direction water tight security architecture of Governor Yahaya Bello with efficacy”.
“One cannot but marvel at the well coordinated onslaught against the criminals who invaded Yagba West LGA towards the fall of last year but were neutralized by the local hunters, members of the Vigilante Group and other security operatives”, he said, adding “I also want to commend the Governor of Kogi State, His Excellency, Alhaji Yahaya Bello for the support given to the Council Chairman, Hon Pius Kolawole to further boost the security of the LGA”.
It will be recalled that there was a breach of peace in the border communities of Egbe and Odo Ere in Yagba West Local Government by some men of the underworld from other states on December 14, 2021.
Their targets majorly were the banks and to do that successfully they had to first neutralise security operations. But while they taught they would have a field day, the well marshalled state security architecture dealt a blow to that fake aspiration of the men of the underworld.
As was already suspected, the road they would be taking as their escape route after their nefarious activity was blocked to restrict them to where they would be dealt with. There were about 30 of them including three females in the gang. They lost their way during their attempted escape from the communities they robbed and killed 7 people, and strayed into the forests of Okunland.
Vigilantes, hunters, the Nigeria Police, the Army and DSS, led by Hon Pius Kolawole (who was actively involved day and night) conducted a coordinated search in the forests, backed by a helicopter from the Nigerian Airforce.
In the end, none of the robbers escaped, in a rare demonstration of bravery that caught the eye of the entire country.
According to Hon Ogunjobi, “Recently, in January 2022, three kidnappers who abducted three citizens of Yagba West along Egbe-Koro Road were equally apprehended through a joint operation of the police and Yagba West vigilantes. One thing that is sure is that Hon Pius Kolawole has strived to prevent crime precedence within and around Yagba West territory as much as he could and this should serve as a strong signal to criminals that Yagba West is a no go area. This has been made possible through several millions of Naira invested in security by the award winning Governor Yahaya Bello to activate community action and community participation, involving local hunters and vigilante especially in the gathering of intelligence, to compliment the efforts of the conventional security agencies”.
