Kogi Attack: Community leader seeks military base as death toll rises to 25

The leader of Agojeju-Odo community in Kogi, Elias Atabor, has appealed to the Federal Government to establish a military base in Omala Local Government Area to checkmate bandits’ incessant attacks on the people.

Atabor made the appeal in an interview with newsmen in Lokoja on Friday.

“We are so worried that the death toll keeps rising by the hour,” he said.

The community leader made the call when it was discovered that the death toll from Thursday’s attack on the Kogi community rose from 19 to 25.

The figure included four children, while several persons were being hospitalised.

Atabor said: “We are pleading with the Federal Government to bring to our community a military base that will help us to checkmate the incessant attacks on our communities in Omala LGA, Kogi.

• 19 killed, many injured as bandits attack Kogi community

“Thursday’s attack is the second in less than three months this year alone. The first was on Jan. 29, when four persons were killed by bandits.

“We can’t continue dying like fowl in our own community. Agojeju-Odo is our ancestral home, and we have no other place to go.

“Many of our people are still missing, and we are still discovering more corpses. It’s painful and worrying.

“The government should come to our aid and save us before those bandits, who are sophisticatedly armed, wipe us out of this earth.”