Kogi State Governor Usman Ododo has reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to protecting lives and property, speaking as he received four victims rescued from last Tuesday’s gunmen attack and abduction of a school principal, a NECO official and students at Secondary School Opada Olowa in Dekina local government area.
Handing over the rescued victims at Government House in Lokoja, Ododo credited the rescue to a Joint Task Security Force combining the Nigerian Army, Navy, Department of State Services, Police, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, State Security Adviser Jerry Omodara and operatives of the Kogi State Vigilance Service, deployed on the strength of intelligence reports to pursue the abductors. He said the state government will not bow to pressure from terrorists, bandits or other criminal elements. We are not afraid, he said, we will not succumb to pressure, we will not pay ransom, Kogi is safe. He lamented that the school had been reopened after the state government had earlier ordered it shut, describing those responsible for the reopening as self centred people who do not want the country’s progress, and expressed gratitude to God that no lives were lost during the rescue operation, commending the heads of all security agencies involved for their unwavering commitment to keeping Kogi State safe.
