Some unknown gunmen in the early hours of Wednesday invaded Agbudu community in Koton-Karfe Local Government area of Kogi State, killing 14 persons and injuring six others.
State’s Police Commissioner, Ede Ayuba, disclosed this at a news conference at the command headquarters in Lokoja.
He said he got the report of the incident at about 2am, disclosing that 13 of the slain victims were members of the same family.
Ayuba said, “This morning around 2 am, my Area Commander called me to report that he received information that there was an attack on the Agbudu community.
“I called the SSA on Security of the Local Government in Koton-Karfe and I said that before I get there, he should mobilise his vigilante men to assist the police – the DPO and the Area Commander in the area – for them to assess the place and see what assistance they could render.”
He said that the vigilance men and some policemen who headed to the area immediately, could not apprehend any of the gunmen as they perpetrated the killings and had left by the time the security agents arrived in the area.
The police commissioner said he later went to the scene of the crime and took part in retrieving the victims’ corpses, adding, “I was there and I was part of those who picked some of the dead bodies we are talking about.
“Yes, 14 people were killed and about six others were fatally injured. The saddening thing is that out of the 14 dead bodies that were brought out, 13 were from one family.
“In that family, it is only one person that survived. His uncle, his mother, his uncle’s wife, his younger brother, his senior brother’s wife, his wife and all his children were killed.”
The Kogi police commissioner said that the police had carried out some preliminary investigations and discovered that there had been long-standing communal feud in the community.
He said, “What I think is, there has been a long-standing communal problem around that area which we are not clearly seeing, but we know that it would not be far from it.
“Presently investigation is in progress. The only person that survived the attack is already with us and he is helping us, the chief of that place is also helping us and some other spirited individuals.
“The Ohimege of Koton-Karfe, Alhaji Abdulrazaq Isa-Koto, is also helping us, the local government, and all the personnel are helping us.
“We are sure, God helping us, we are going to get to the root of all these things that are happening.
“In the interim, I want to give the assurance that we are not going to relent in our efforts. We will make sure we get to the root of anything that is behind the killings.”