Panic in Yagba: Three Abducted in Egbe, Chinese Expatriate Kidnapped in Fresh Kogi Attacks

By RYNI Media |Omotayo Stephen .O

June 23, 2025

A chilling wave of insecurity swept through Kogi State over the weekend as two brazen abductions shattered the fragile calm in Yagba West and Yagba East Local Government Areas. The incidents—occurring just hours apart—have left residents rattled and authorities scrambling for answers.

On Sunday evening, June 22, around dusk, three persons were kidnapped along the Titcombe College–Oke-Ere Road in Egbe, a semi-urban community in Yagba West LGA. According to eyewitness accounts, armed men invaded the home of a local woman, Mrs. Ojo, and abducted her son along with two of her tenants in a swift and coordinated strike.“We were inside when we heard gunshots and people screaming,” a resident recounted under anonymity.

“The attackers didn’t just take—they terrorized the area. Now, no one sleeps with both eyes closed.”Earlier that day, a Chinese expatriate traveling through Yagba East LGA met a similar fate when gunmen intercepted his vehicle along the Odo-Aofin–Ido road axis around 1:22 p.m., dragging him into the nearby bush.

According to Sahara Reporters, despite the swift deployment of a police response team and a tactical sweep of the area, the assailants managed to escape with the abducted foreign national, vanishing into the dense forest before reinforcements could close in.While no group has claimed responsibility, the timing and precision of both attacks have raised alarms of a possibly organized network targeting vulnerable areas across the Yagba axis. Authorities are yet to release an official statement, but the silence from government quarters is only deepening the sense of unease.

In both local governments, fear has become a palpable presence. Traditional leaders and local vigilantes are calling on residents to restrict movement after sundown and to report suspicious activity to the nearest security outfit. “We are no longer safe in our own homes,” lamented a youth advocate from Yagba East. “We need visible security, not empty reassurances.”The incidents further underline Nigeria’s rising wave of rural insecurity, with Kogi State increasingly caught in the crosshairs of criminal gangs exploiting soft targets.

The targeting of both locals and foreign nationals poses new economic and diplomatic risks.As night falls again over the Yagba region, tension simmers—and the demand for urgent, strategic security intervention grows louder. For the affected families, the wait for rescue is not just agonizing—it’s a test of faith in a system that can no longer afford to fail.

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