₦airaland Forum

Bandits ‘take over’ Yoruba-speaking LGAs in Kogi

Villages sacked, policemen, villagers targeted

•Gov visits areas, vows stiffer measures

By Charles Kumolu, Deputy Editor

Kogi West Senatorial District, the Yoruba-speaking area of Kogi State, is currently under siege.

Residents of the area, which covers seven Local Government Areas (LGAs) of the state’s 21 LGAs, live in perpetual fear. Some have deserted their villages to places they consider safe, while those who stayed back do not sleep with their eyes closed.

Even when they do, those who are lucky to wake up are confronted by gory sights and tales of bandits’ attacks. The agrarian people, known for producing the best in many fields, hardly cultivate their farmlands for fear of bandits who attack them regularly. Villages are frequently invaded, while their farmlands, apart from being plundered, are now no-go areas.

For the locals, who have long suffered neglect, especially in infrastructure, in the hands of successive state and federal governments, their once peaceful villages have become theatres of chaos. The previously calm forests, with their flora and fauna, have become safe havens for bandits.
Findings by Sunday Vanguard showed that several persons, including policemen and local vigilante members, have lost their lives in the attacks. It was learnt that the bandits relocated from some parts of the North-West and North-Central to the largely ungoverned forests. They reside in the forests from where they kidnap villagers on their farmlands, homes, and roads.

It was learnt that what makes the situation dire is the near absence of motorable roads in the area, which is being exploited by the criminals. For example, the Ilorin–Omuaran–Kabba Highway, which passes through many communities in the area, has totally collapsed following years of neglect by state and federal governments. Only a few towns, especially local government headquarters, can boast of paved roads.

chiagozien:
There's no Yorubas in kogi, Yorubas are only in 5 south west states.

shox:
kabba people of kogi state are Yoruba speaking people.

Bandits are just trying to chase them down south to Lagos and afterwards to the Atlantic Ocean or the republic of Benin where they can set up idp camps

chiagozien:
There's no Yorubas in kogi, Yorubas are only in 5 south west states.

Zionmdde:
Nonsense headline
If vanguard published this, then it's a disgrace

kettykin:
It does look like not just illorin and the whole of kwara will be gone but South west Kogi is now under a real threat. May God help Nigeria.

aswani:
Vanguard sadly have taken on an Obidient cloak for a while now. I remember when it was once respectable, now it has effectively allowed itself to be dragged into Ndi Yoruba and Ndigbo gbas gbos, a shame.

shox:
kabba people of kogi state are Yoruba speaking people.

Bandits are just trying to chase them down south to Lagos and afterwards to the Atlantic Ocean or the republic of Benin where they can set up idp camps

chiagozien:
There's no Yorubas in kogi, Yorubas are only in 5 south west states.

blamingthedevil:
Total fake news and gibberish by vanguard

UkoAnnang:
I have a friends from Kogi State and he speaks Yoruba as their traditional dialect

chiagozien:
There's no Yorubas in kogi, Yorubas are only in 5 south west states.