Concerned Citizens Call for the Arrest of Instigators of Violence in Kogi

Ibrahim Oyewale in Lokoja

Worried by the spate of violence in Kogi State recently, the indigenes of the three main ethnic groups in the state have called on the Department of State Services (DSS), the police, and other security agencies to, as a matter of urgency, invite those publicly instigating violence in the state through hate campaign and unfounded allegations, for questioning.

Thousands of concerned indigenes who arose from an emergency meeting in Ab

uja, called on all genuine Kogites, both at home and abroad, to rise up against the “merchants of disharmony” in the state.

They insisted that those using their social media platforms to spread falsehood and launch hate campaigns must be thoroughly investigated to fish out those instigating violence in Kogi State, demanding that those found culpable must be arrested and prosecuted.

The Vice President of Kogi Youth Leaders’ Forum, Richard Leke; Organising Secretary, Ishaq Musa; Abdullahi Ugbede, member; and former PDP Kogi West senatorial district candidate, Adeyemi Olabode John, among others, jointly signed the communique made available to journalists.

They alleged that the sponsored protest to the Defence Headquarters in Abuja yesterday was for the purpose of blackmailing the military and other security agencies from performing their legitimate constitutional duties in Kogi State, adding that this must be resisted in the interest of peace in the state.

The group alleged that the protest was sponsored by those behind the violent attacks in the state “who do not mean well for the state,” noting that looking at the composition of the purported protesters, it was glaring that they were mainly street urchins picked from Abuja suburbs.

“Why would anyone wish to discourage security agents from doing their work if such person does not harbour criminal intentions? It is either that or these people are not bona-fide Kogi State indigenes. They cannot be,” the group stated.