Notorious militant kingpin, kidnapper, gunned down in Ondo State

• He was leader of gang that killed army captain, three policemen, says military spokesman

The military authorities yesterday disclosed that troops of ‘Operation Delta Safe’ have gunned down a notorious militant kingpin, kidnapper and bank robber, ‘General’ Ossy Ibori, in a special operation at Ajakpa Community, Ese-Odo Local Council in the creeks of Ondo State.

The troops repelled an attack on their location in the creeks of Southern Ondo on Sunday night. Ibori was gunned down during the gun duel, along with some of his gang members. His body was identified by some of the locals in the area.

While search for other criminals, who jumped into the water with gunshot wounds is ongoing, the troops recovered one AK-47 rifle and four magazines.

It would be recalled that criminal gangs, led by Ibori, have been terrorising parts of Lagos, Ogun and Ondo states prior to this operation. They committed many atrocities threatening the peace and security of the southwestern states.

Last month, the gang killed an army captain and three policemen in Ikorodu, Lagos. Also late last year, the gang abducted students and staff of Nigerian Turkish secondary school in Ogun State, three schoolgirls at Babington Macaulay Junior Seminary School in Ikorodu, masterminded the kidnapping of four landlords at Isheri North, and also the Oniba of Ibaland, Oba Goriola Oseni.

Spokesman of Operation Delta Safe with headquarters in Yenagoa, Major Abubakar Abdullahi, in a statement said Ibori, who was the mastermind of many banks robberies and kidnapping in Ondo and Lagos and who had a hideout at Ajakpa, led his gang to attack the troops, but was repelled.

The statement added that the need to flush the criminals out from their hideouts became necessary to ensure peace and security in Ondo and its environs.

However, it stated that one gallant soldier paid the supreme price while three others sustained serious gunshot wounds and have since been evacuated to military hospital for proper medical attention.

While reiterating the outfit’s mandate to rid Niger Delta of all criminals and acts of militancy, Major Abdullahi appealed to law-abiding residents of the affected communities to remain calm, vigilant and support the troops with valuable information on whereabouts of other criminals.

It would be recalled that in October 2016, the militant group, which had no known name then, and were notorious for pipeline vandalism, kidnapping and bank robberies, demanded for amnesty, threatening to disrupt the economy within Lagos and Ogun if the Federal Government did not dialogue with it and grant its members pipeline protection contracts.