The whereabouts of the Chairman of Yagba West Local Government Area of Kogi State, Mr. Pius Kolawole, is still a mystery after the Kogi State Commissioner of Pensions, Mr. Solomon Adebayo, he was travelling with was shot dead by unknown gunmen, believed to be bandits.
Both men had gone for the burial ceremony of Late Chief Owojaiye who was buried in Egbe on Friday. They were said to have made a quick trip to Ilorin, the Kwara State capital on Saturday morning, and were on their way back in the evening evening when tragedy struck just at the entrance of Egbe from Eruku a border community between Kwara and Kogi States.
Kolawole was said to have been taken into the forest, while Late Adebayo’s driver and another police security detail were badly injured. They are both receiving treatment in hospital.
Kolawole has been known to lament the security situation in his LGA and Okun land.
Sunday afternoon, there were unconfirmed reports that contact may have been made by his abductors, but the state government’s record of keeping its interiors relatively free of banditry has suffered a huge blemish with the killing of a member of the state executive council.
Kogi police spokesman William Ayah said the assailants opened fire on Mr Adebayo’s vehicle along the road, killing him on the spot while severely wounding his driver.
The police said an investigation would be carried out to track and arrest those behind the deadly assault. It was unclear whether the attackers made away with any of the victims’ belongings.
The driver, whose name was not immediately disclosed, was taken to ECWA Hospital Egbe alongside others injured in the attack. The slain commissioner’s remains were also deposited here.
The killing of Mr Adebayo, the Akeweje of Eri Land in Kogi, was being mourned across the state as the news trickled out overnight.