By Unekwuojo O

July 29, 2020 – 14 persons have been confirmed dead with six others injured following an attack by unknown gunmen in Agbudu community in Kogi-Koton-Karfe Local Government area in the early hours of Wednesday.

The state Police Commissioner, Ede Ayuba while briefing newsmen at the command headquarters in Lokoja, disclosed that 13 of the slain victims were from same family.

Ayuba disclosed that a preliminary investigation reveals that the attack was as a result of some long standing feud among commuters, adding that investigations were still ongoing.

The Police Commissioner said he received the report of the attack at about 2 a.m on July 29 from the Area Commander of his division, after which they swung into action immediately.

“This morning around 2 am, my Area Commander called me to report that he received information that there was an attack on Agbudu community.

“I called the SSA on Security of the Local Government in Koton-Karfe and I said that before I get there, he should mobilise his vigilante men.

“To assist the police – the DPO and the Area Commander in the area – for them to assess the place and see what assistance they could render.”

“The vigilante group left immediately and by the time they got there, the hoodlums had carried out their operation and left,” Ayuba said.

Ayuba said he later visited the scene of crime and took part in collecting the dead bodies.

“14 people were killed and about six others were fatally injured. The saddening thing is that out of the 14 dead bodies that were brought out, 13 were from one family.

“In that family, it is only one person that survived. His uncle, his mother, his uncle’s wife, his younger brother, his senior brother’s wife, his wife and all his children were killed,” he said.

“What I think is, there has been a long-standing communal problem around that area which we are not clearly seeing, but we know that it would not be far from it.

“Presently investigation is in progress. The only person that survived the attack is already with us and he is helping us, the chief of that place is also helping us and some other spirited individuals.

“The Ohimege of Koton-Karfe, Alhaji Abdulrazaq Isa-Koto, is also helping us, the local government and all the personnel are helping us.

“We are sure, God helping us, we are going to get to the root of all these things that are happening.

“In the interim, I want to give the assurance that we are not going to relent in our efforts. We will make sure we get to the root of anything that is behind the killings,” Ayuba said.

The Humanitarian Post reports that in recent times, there have been several attacks on communities in the Konto-Karfe LGA of the State, and also on travelers.

Members of Communities in the Local Government Area have called on government for increased security as they cannot sleep “closing both eyes” due to the high level of insecurity.