Sunday October 5, 2025
By TheNewsDESK |
No fewer than 27 people have been confirmed dead following a deadly attack by armed bandits on several communities in Yagba West Local Government Area of Kogi State on Saturday, October 4, according to SAHARA Reporters.
A military source described the attackers as “heavily armed” and in possession of sophisticated weapons.
“Bandits killed 27 people in Yagba West, Kogi State, just yesterday, and it was not reported. They invaded the area with heavy weapons,” the source said.
The latest killings mark another episode in the wave of violence sweeping through Yagba West, home to Senator Sunday Karimi, who represents Kogi West Senatorial District and serves as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Services.
Only a day earlier, armed men invaded Bareke, Egbe, in Yagba West, where they stormed a residential house around 2 a.m. and kidnapped a woman along with her two children.
“The woman and two of her children were kidnapped right from their house around 2 am in the early hours of this (Friday) morning, while her husband escaped with wounds,” a source in the community said.
“It happened very close to the house of the current Kogi West Senator, Sunday Karimi, in Egbe.”
The Friday raid followed another attack on Thursday in Ejiba, where a commercial bus was ambushed and all passengers abducted. A motorcyclist identified by serial number 256 was reportedly killed during that incident.
Earlier last week, bandits had stormed Bethel Farm in Ejiba, Yagba West LGA, on the night of Wednesday, October 1, abducting three people. Community sources also reported that the same group attacked a bread distributor along the Ejiba–Odo-Eri route that morning, shooting one of the workers.
Photographs from the affected areas show a burnt motorcycle said to belong to vigilante members who confronted the gunmen during one of the attacks.
In recent weeks, several Yagba West communities including Okunran — have been deserted after successive raids forced residents to flee.