A traditional ruler from the Oke-Ere community in Yagba West Local Government Area of Kogi State, Chief Adebayo Samuel, has died in captivity weeks after he was abducted by suspected bandits while working on his farm.
Chief Samuel was abducted on April 21 at about 10:00 am while carrying out farming activities on cultivated land in the Odo-Ere area of Yagba West. Family and community sources confirmed that the traditional ruler had gone to plant crops on farmland earlier prepared with the assistance of a local worker before the bandits stormed the area and whisked him away.
According to sources, the farm worker later escaped and returned to the community to alert residents that suspected bandits had abducted the chief. A resident said: "He went to the farm in the morning like every other day. The person who accompanied him to the farm came back to inform the community that gunmen had kidnapped Baba from the farmland."
The abduction threw the community into panic, with family members and local leaders making frantic efforts in the hope of securing his release. However, those hopes were shattered on Friday morning, May 8, after reports emerged that Chief Samuel had died while in captivity. Another community source said: "The whole town is mourning. People were praying for his safe return, but now the family has been thrown into pain after hearing that he died in the kidnappers' custody." The exact circumstances surrounding his death remained unclear as of the time of filing this report.
In another disturbing development, family sources also disclosed that Chief Samuel's daughter, Dupe Owa, alongside one of her children, was abducted by armed men while travelling from Oke-Ere to Egbe in the early hours of Friday, May 8. The incident occurred along the Oke-Ere-Egbe road, an area residents have repeatedly described as vulnerable to kidnappings and attacks by armed gangs.
Community members said there was slight relief after the kidnapped child was later found shortly after the attack, while efforts were still ongoing to rescue Dupe Owa, who remains missing. A source said: "Her child was later recovered safely, but the mother has not been found. This has worsened the sadness in the family because they are mourning their father and at the same time searching for their daughter."
All efforts made to get a response from the state Police Command Spokesperson ASP Saliu Oyiza Afusat were unsuccessful. She has yet to reply to the messages and calls made to her at the time of filing this report.
In a related development, gunmen attacked Garin Faji village in Sokoto State, killing a man and his young daughter while abducting 17 residents during a late-night invasion on April 29. Residents said the attackers stormed the community on foot around midnight, opened fire, killed the victims, and abducted mostly women and children before escaping with livestock.
