By Oyibo Salihu
Lokoja
Three members of a vigilance group in Ofu local government area of Kogi state were killed yesterday by unidentified bandits at Ahi village.
The deceased, who were conveying three suspected criminals they had earlier arrested, were said to have been ambushed by some assailants on their way to Ugwolawo Divisional Police Office at the LGA headquarters.
A relation of one of the slain vigilantes who gave his name as Musa, said he suspected that there was communication between some elements in Ahi village and the bandits, giving them information on the movement of the vigilantes and the arrested suspects.
The three arrested suspects were rescued by their colleagues who laid the siege, the sources said.
Also, one of the indigene, Malam Musa Abuh, while commenting of the development, lamented that the situation had posed a serious setback to the community policing which many people had embraced as a panacea to the upsurge of crime in the rural areas.
He said with the ferocious operations of the police and other security agencies in major urban centres in the state, criminals had shifted their activities to the rural areas, noting that vigilante groups had been set up at the local government and community levels to assist the police in detecting as well as arresting criminals.
However, the Administrator of Ofu local government area, Sule Abuhegbiti, who confirmed the incident, said investigation into the matter had commenced.
