Bandits Abduct Dozens of Southern-Bound Travellers in Coordinated Kogi-Benue-Ondo Highway Attacks

A wave of at least seven coordinated highway ambushes across Kogi, Benue, and Ondo States between August 9 and 13, 2026 left roughly 92 mostly South-East and South-South travellers abducted, with about 62 unaccounted for or feared dead despite a string of rescues. The first strikes hit the Itobe-Anyigba highway in Ofu LGA, Kogi State on August 9, when gunmen intercepted a Peace Mass Transit bus between Ojuwo Ajengo and Mamerebo and dragged 15 passengers (including two FRSC personnel and three children) into the forest; a joint police-army-DSS-NSCDC operation rescued all 15 the same day after a firefight that killed one vigilante. On the night of August 13, gunmen ambushed an 18-seater Enugu-to-Abuja commercial bus along the Ankpechi-Omutele axis of Ohimini LGA, Benue State, abducting 14 passengers; a follow-up police rescue freed 5 (including a 4-year-old boy, one with a gunshot wound) while 9 remained in captivity. Protesters blocked the Kogi highway on August 10 demanding stronger security after the earlier attacks. The surge marks a new pattern of bandit groups targeting long-distance commercial buses on north-central corridors rather than isolated rural kidnappings.