Troops rescue kidnap victims in Kwara

By Demola Akinyemi, Ilorin

Two kidnapped victims person been rescued by the troops of Operation FANSAN YAMMA nether the 22 Armoured Brigade, Ilorin, pursuing abstracted weapon battles with suspected bandits successful Efagi village, Lafiagi, and the Ayekale axis of Edu and Omu-Aran Local Government Areas of Kwara State.

Sunday Vanguard reliably gathered that the latest rescue operations travel amid intensified counter-insurgency efforts by the Nigerian Army crossed Kwara North and adjoining states affected by rising cases of banditry and abductions.

In a connection obtained by Sunday Vanguard connected Saturday, the Acting Assistant Director, Army Public Relations, 22 Armoured Brigade, Captain Stephen Nwankwo, said troops stationed astatine the Lafiagi patrol basal swung into enactment aft receiving quality astir an abduction incidental astatine Efagi colony successful the aboriginal hours of Friday, October 10, 2025.

According to him, the troops, successful collaboration with section vigilantes, pursued the kidnappers and engaged them successful a fierce speech of gunfire, forcing the hoodlums to wantonness their victims and fly into the adjacent forest.

“During the encounter, 1 worker and a vigilante subordinate sustained gunshot wounds. Both person been evacuated for aesculapian treatment,” Nwankwo disclosed.

He added that the rescued victims had been reunited with their families, portion the troops had intensified clearance operations successful the country to apprehend the fleeing bandits and reconstruct normalcy.

The Commander, 22 Armoured Brigade, Brigadier General Ezra Barkins, commended the troops for their gallantry, professionalism, and swift response.

He besides reiterated the Nigerian Army’s resoluteness to prolong the ongoing subject operations against transgression elements successful Kwara and neighbouring states.

He urged residents to stay vigilant and supply credible quality to assistance the information agencies successful tackling insecurity successful agrarian communities.

Meanwhile, the General Officer Commanding (GOC), 2 Division of the Nigerian Army, and Commander Sector 3 Operation FANSAN YAMMA, Major General C.R. Nnebeife, has visited Omu-Aran and different affected communities pursuing an onslaught connected traders astatine Olegbede village, adjacent Idofin Ayekale successful Irepodun Local Government Area, wherever 3 persons were reportedly killed.

The Acting Deputy Director, Army Public Relations, 2 Division Nigerian Army, Lieutenant Colonel Polycarp Okoye, successful a statement, said the sojourn formed portion of the GOC’s operational appraisal to boost troops’ morale and reassure affected communities of the Army’s committedness to restoring peace.

During the visit, Major General Nnebeife met with the accepted ruler of the community, the Dofin of Idofin, Oba Pius Oluwole Oni, who lamented that the attacks were linked to the community’s proximity to the Babasango Forest, which has go a hideout for transgression gangs.

In his response, the GOC sympathised with the monarch and his subjects implicit the incidental and assured them of sustained subject operations to wide the forests of bandits and reconstruct peace.

Okoye added that earlier, during a circuit of the Babanla Patrol Base, the GOC led troops successful an beforehand cognition toward the Babasango Forest, wherever 2 kidnapped victims were successfully rescued and aboriginal handed implicit to the Dofin of Idofin during the visit.

The station Troops rescue kidnap victims successful Kwara appeared archetypal connected Vanguard News.