The Kogi State Government has confirmed the killing of notorious bandit leader Kachala Ibrahim Batijo, who was allegedly responsible for coordinating a recent attack on a school in Iluke Bunu, Kabba/Bunu Local Government Area.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Tuesday, June 16, Kogi State Commissioner for Information and Communications, Kingsley Fanwo, said Batijo was among several terrorists killed during a coordinated security operation involving the military, police, Department of State Services (DSS), and local security forces. According to Fanwo, Batijo was behind plans to abduct students from schools across Kogi State and had specifically targeted schools in the state in recent months.
“It’s a process that took a very long time. Initially, we got intelligence that he wanted to attack our schools in Kogi State. And while we were working on getting him, we shut down our schools for more than three weeks,” Fanwo said.
“It was painful, but they were unable to take our children away from the schools. And then we also learned that they were targeting the writing of the West African Secondary School Certificate Examination at a particular school, GSS Iluke, so that they would be able to kidnap all of those students. He was the one coordinating all of those strategies to be able to take those children away.”
The commissioner said the state relied on intelligence gathering and security coordination to monitor Batijo’s activities and prevent mass abductions. “Kogi State has invested heavily in high-tech intelligence gathering equipment. We were able to monitor all of his activities. We moved our students from that remote place where the school is,” he said.
“The school is about three kilometres away from Iluke. They call the place Alara. So we moved it to the heart of Iluke town, and we were monitoring how Batijo was coordinating his people with the support of the military, the DSS, the police, and all of our local security architecture.”
Fanwo said the terrorist leader eventually launched an attack on June 10, arriving with a large group of armed men. “On June 10th, he struck. He went to Iluke with this very large number of people. About 40 motorcycles were used to carry about 100 terrorists to that place,” he said. “They attacked a few places, including attempting to take away the students from the school, and it was foiled. They could not take a single student away from the school.”
He credited local vigilantes and security agencies for repelling the attack and preventing the abduction of students. “Our local security architecture provided the first line of defence, and they were supported by the military to be able to foil that attack, including the police, the DSS, and all of the security forces in Kogi State.” Fanwo added that Batijo and several members of his group were killed during the operation.
“We were able to neutralise Batijo and a good number of terrorists who carried out that operation. It was quite successful. As I speak, more than 15 to 20 bodies have been found of the terrorists, and even yesterday, while security forces went to where he was secretly buried to exhume his body for further examination, more terrorists were neutralised.”
The commissioner said authorities are confident the slain bandit is Batijo but are carrying out further scientific verification. “We are very confident that he’s the one, but we will still subject that to science to confirm,” he said. “We didn’t just stop at saying we’ve neutralised him. We knew that he was secretly buried by the other gang members that survived the bombardment from the Kogi security forces. But we decided that his body should be exhumed and further autopsy and investigation should be carried out on the body to fully establish it.”
Batijo was linked to the recent attack on a school in Iluke Bunu, which reportedly left three people dead, including a vice principal and a six-year-old child. The Kogi government described his killing as a major breakthrough in ongoing efforts to combat banditry and protect schools across the state.
