Operatives of the Kogi State Vigilante Service (KSVS), in collaboration with local hunters, have rescued a worker of Dangote Cement Company, Obajana, who was abducted in a forest in Lokoja Local Government Area of Kogi State.
The victim was among workers laying a pipeline for the cement company when suspected kidnappers attacked them inside the forest on November 4.
The KSVS spokesperson, Idris S. Idris, said the operatives and local hunters responded to a distress call from the workers at about 2pm on the same day.
Operatives from the service’s Zariagi Sub-Command responded to a distress call and engaged the gunmen in a shootout inside the forest. The statement said the KSVS team had superior firepower and that the suspects were wounded to varying degrees. They nonetheless escaped with one of the workers, identified as Muri Sadiq.
Idris said the vigilantes and local hunters regrouped, mobilised reinforcements and launched a second operation to rescue the victim.
“The reinforcement forced the armed hoodlums to abandon their captive, a 41-year-old Sadiq, unharmed on Saturday, November 8,” he said in a statement.
The KSVS Comptroller-General, Ibrahim Usman Anataku, commended the operatives for their bravery and urged them to sustain the operations to rid the forest of armed groups terrorising the community.
Anataku also thanked Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo for his continued support and encouragement to the service.
He warned criminals operating in the state to abandon their activities or leave, stressing that the vigilante service, in collaboration with other security agencies, would not tolerate criminality.
He appealed to members of the public to remain vigilant and provide timely intelligence, assuring them that the identities of informants and the information they provide would be treated with strict confidentiality.
