Gunmen abduct six Defence ministry directors in Kogi

Six senior directors from the Federal Ministry of Defence have been kidnapped by armed men along the Kabba–Lokoja highway in Kogi State, underscoring the worsening insecurity threatening government operations across the country.

BusinessDay gathered that the officials, identified as Ngozi Ibeziakor, C.A. Emeribe, C. Helen Ezeakor, C.A. Ladoye, J.A. Onwuzurike and Catherine O. Essien, were travelling from Lagos to Abuja on Monday for a promotion examination when their convoy was intercepted. The assailants reportedly abandoned the victims’ vehicles and led them into a nearby forest.

The Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN), which confirmed the incident on Wednesday, condemned the attack and urged the Federal Government to bolster security for civil servants on official assignments.

Security agencies are said to have launched a coordinated search and rescue operation, though the Ministry of Defence is yet to issue an official statement on the abduction.

Security sources noted that the forested terrain, weak policing coverage and informal local support networks are enabling gangs to operate with relative impunity, making it easy for many travellers on the Kabba–Lokoja highway to be targets for ambush.

In the same vein, Western part of the state, have become a “hotspot” for kidnappings and armed attacks, one traveller was killed, and several others traveling from Lagos to Abuja, were abducted along the Ayere-Kabba.

The abduction of high-level civil-service officers is said represents a disturbing escalation — both in terms of profile of the victims and the audacity of the attackers — and will raise serious questions about the state of protection along major official travel routes within the state.

The incident comes against a backdrop of mounting insecurity in Kogi State, especially in the Kabba–Lokoja corridor and adjoining rural forest areas, in the recent months.

It would be recalled that several youths in the Odo-Ape community of Kabba-Bunu Local Government Area protested the killing of two farmers by suspected kidnappers and blocked the highway in early January 2025.

As a follow-up to the incident, the state government announced the discovery of a criminal network operating in Kabba/Bunu, Ijumu and Yagba East, involving local collaborators aiding kidnapping gangs in forest hideouts.

A major operation was carried out in which led to the arrest of 26 suspects in the Bunu Forest area of Kabba-Bunu LGA for their alleged roles in kidnapping and related logistics.

Along the Lokoja–Kabba / Obajana corridor, an attempted mass abduction of 23 passengers resulted in one death and six injuries in June 2025, when gunmen attacked a commercial vehicle but were repelled by police.

Sources observed that the poor road infrastructure, particularly, the Kabba-Mopa-Isanlu-Egbe Highway, linking Kwara state is contributing in no small way to robberies and kidnapping activities of the bandits operating in the area.