Six senior directors of the Federal Ministry of Defence have been abducted by armed men along the Kaba–Lokoja highway in Kogi State while traveling from Lagos to Abuja for a promotion examination.
The attack, which occurred on Monday, has sparked outrage across the civil service community and raised renewed concerns over the rising spate of insecurity on Nigeria’s highways.
According to reports, the officials were traveling in a convoy when their vehicles were ambushed by heavily armed assailants. The gunmen reportedly blocked the road, shot sporadically into the air to instill fear, and whisked away the victims into a nearby forest.
The Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) has condemned the abduction in strong terms, calling it “a shameful and unacceptable assault on the Nigerian state.” The association also revealed the identities of the kidnapped officials, describing them as dedicated public servants who were on official duty at the time of the attack.
In a statement released on Tuesday, the ASCSN urged the Federal Government to decentralize the conduct of promotion examinations to reduce the risks associated with long-distance travel by civil servants. The association said that requiring officials from across the federation to travel to Abuja for such exercises had become unsafe in light of growing banditry and highway kidnappings.
Security operatives, including military units and local vigilante groups, have since been deployed to comb the forests along the Kaba–Lokoja corridor in an effort to rescue the abducted officers.
A senior police source in Kogi confirmed that “joint security operations are ongoing” and expressed optimism that the victims would be rescued unharmed.
The Kaba–Lokoja highway has, in recent years, become notorious for frequent cases of kidnapping and armed robbery, with several travelers falling victim to criminal gangs operating between Kogi and Kwara States.
Authorities are yet to confirm whether any ransom demand has been made by the kidnappers as investigations continue.
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