Amid the attacks and abductions in the state, the Kwara State Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, has held a security council meeting.
At the meeting, commanders and top government officials reviewed strategies to strengthen public safety and curtail the threats of organised kidnapping gangs.
The governor received briefings from security commanders following the Tuesday attack on the Eruku community in the Ekiti Local Government Area of the state.
Addressing a press briefing on the council meeting, the Commissioner of Police, Ojo Adekimi, told reporters that the council meeting “harvested insights from the security commanders on recent happenings and field intelligence in the aftermath of the Eruku incident.
This, he said, included efforts of the security agencies to track down the perpetrators and rescue the victims.
He added that the security agencies also arrested a man who confessed to fixing weapons for the kidnappers.
The Kwara CP, who said that the security council meeting was convened by Governor Abdulrazaq, expressed the commitment of the government and the security agencies to rescue the abducted persons unhurt.
He said that the heightened security deployments, especially air interdictions, had dislodged the kidnappers from their former hideouts, especially in the Ifelodun Local Government Area, calling for continuous air bombardment of areas identified as criminal hideouts.
Ojo, who said that the security council meeting observed the damaging impacts of social media in the country’s fight against violent non-state actors, however, expressed concern with how security information was disseminated, including the demand for ransom and amplification of information that exposes citizens to more danger.
Gunmen had on Tuesday launched an attack at a parish of the Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) in Eruku, abducting at least 30 worshippers during a church service.
The attackers also killed three people and demanded a ransom of 100m naira each for the abducted worshippers.
Eyewitnesses in the community said the attackers stormed the area “suddenly and heavily armed,” forcing many residents to flee into nearby bushes for safety.
“They came around nightfall and started shooting. Two people were killed instantly, and we don’t even know how many were taken,” one resident said.
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