Residents flee as soldiers, police invade Okene

Human and vehicular movements were light in Okene, Kogi State on Thursday as an uneasy calm pervaded the town where gunmen killed 19 worshippers at the Deeper Life Bible Church at the Eikha-Adagu area on Monday.

The Commissioner of Police in Kogi, Mr Mohammed Katsina, said on Wednesday that four persons had been arrested in connection with the killings.

Travellers, who normally spent some 30 or more minutes to navigate the traffic in the town, spent only about five minutes on Thursday.

Soldiers and policemen mounted two checkpoints where they searched vehicles and their passengers.

They also conducted a house-to-house search for weapons allegedly stolen from two soldiers who were killed in a separate attack by gunmen on Tuesday. Two civilians also died in the incident.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the action of the security agents caught residents unawares and some started fleeing to neighbouring towns in Edo, Ondo and Ekiti states.

The Kogi Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Simon Ile, told NAN that policemen were sent to Okene for what he called a “mop up” exercise.

He said the security agents would sustain the operation until all the culprits behind the killings were apprehended and the arms stolen from the dead soldiers were recovered.
Source