The Leader of Agojeju-Odo community in Kogi State, Elias Atabor, has urged the federal government to establish a military base in Omala Local Government Area to checkmate bandits\u2019 incessant attacks on the people.<\/p>\n
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Mr Atabor made the plea in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lokoja on Friday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are so worried that the death toll keeps rising by the hour,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The community leader made the call when it was discovered that the death toll of Thursday\u2019s attack on the Kogi community attack rose from 19 to 25.<\/p>\n
The figure included four children, while several persons were hospitalised.<\/p>\n
But the Special Adviser on Security to Governor Usman Ododo, Jerry Omodara, said the death toll had risen to 21, with more being discovered by the hour.<\/p>\n
Mr Atabor said: \u201cWe are pleading with the federal government to bring to our community a military base that will help us to checkmate the incessant attacks in our communities in Omala LGA.<\/p>\n
\u201cThursday\u2019s attack is the second in less than three months this year alone. The first was on January 29 when four persons were killed by bandits<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can continue dying like fowls in our own community. Agojeju-Odo is our ancestral home and we have no other place to go besides it<\/p>\n
\u201cMany of our people are still missing and we are still discovering more corpses. It\u2019s painful and worrying.<\/p>\n
\u201cGovernment should come to our aid and save us before those bandits, who are sophisticatedly armed to wipe us out from this Earth.\u201d<\/p>\n
The leader said that the communities, Agojeju-Odo, Ajokpachi-Odo, and Bagaji had become ghost towns with no economic activity due to the attacks.<\/p>\n
According to him, their children can not have the desired education because virtually all the schools in those communities are closed down.<\/p>\n
He thanked Governor Ododo and the security operatives for their immediate response by deploying personnel to the troubled communities.<\/p>\n
Also, a community stakeholder, Ademu Ibrahim, urged President Bola Tinubu and Mr Ododo to assist the community members with some relief materials, having lost their farm produce to the bandits.<\/p>\n
He described the attacks as \u201cwicked and unacceptable\u201d, considering the way and manner the bandits were killing the people.<\/p>\n
Mr Ibrahim said there had been a running battle between militia groups in parts of Benue and some bandits, which led to the onslaught on the quiet towns of Agojeju-Odo, Ajokpachi-Odo, Bagaji and environs.<\/p>\n
According to him, the bandits have destroyed farm produce with ease in an attempt to draw the communities into the conflict.<\/p>\n
NAN reports that 19 persons were initially reported killed and several others injured during Thursday\u2019s attack on Agojeju-Odo community in Omala Local Government Area of Kogi.<\/p>\n