Abductors of the six chieftains of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara State, have been killed in a rescue operation conducted by local vigilante.

Consequently, five of the victims have been rescued by the vigilantes.

Flavision learnt that, the kidnappers were shot dead on Saturday night, when the vigilante operators swooped on their hideouts in bushes around Ekiti Local Government Area of the state after hours of tracking them.

The development, according to THISDAY checks, was not unconnected with the the killing of APC Women Leader that was among the leaders abducted after returning from the inauguration of the newly constituted state executive members of the party last week Thursday in Ilorin by Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of the state.

A security source told journalists yesterday that, the state government had since the incident a few days ago, activated the security architecture, which involved the police and local vigilante groups in the area.

The vigilantes, it was gathered, traced the abductors to their hideouts following detailed intelligence gathered from various sources.

Sources said part of the successful operation involved difficult terrains and night movement.

It was further learnt that, the criminal gang in their usual cowardly ways, had put the victims in harm’s way as human shields during the operation.

Sources further said,

During the exchange and operation that lasted hours, the criminals were killed and their corpses had been handed over to the police. Sadly, we lost one of the victims while five others were rescued alive and are now being taken care of.

The sources further noted that, the operation was a difficult one and praised the heroic efforts of the vigilante.

It should be noted that based on what was observed during the operation, the criminal element had no issue causing us to lose all five (remaining) abducted victims.

The professionalism of the groups involved in the operation limited the number of innocent lives lost in the operation. A life lost is one too many, but we thank God for the successful rescue of the other five innocent victims.

The government has, apart from supporting the conventional security networks, been investing in the local vigilante bodies to strengthen security of lives and properties in the state. The government has similarly established strong relationships with other states to boost security.

I can also confirm that three Kwarans, who were recently abducted in Kaduna State, have been freed following discreet efforts of the state government, which swung into action once the issue was brought to its attention last week. Two of the abductees are students. As I speak to you, government is arranging their safe movement to Ilorin, the state capital.

Justin Nwosu

Justin Nwosu is the founder and publisher of Flavision. His core interest is in writing unbiased news about Nigeria in particular and Africa in general. He’s a strong adherent of investigative journalism, with a bent on exposing corruption, abuse of power and societal ills.