In Edo State’s Ubiaja LGA, 4 Brigade Nigerian Army aided by the Nigeria Police Force, has rescued a kidnapped farmer during a coordinated operation in Ubiaja.
The documents report the intelligence gathered about 50-year-old Lucky Egbiki who is said to have been kidnapped at his farm in Okehussan, Ubiaja.
The army claimed that the soldiers conducted the rescue at roughly 6pm on August 6, 2026 after securing the release of the kidnappers through ransom negotiation to a set point which is Onogholo in the local government area.
One of the suspected kidnappers who came in to meet the ransom was allegedly killed by the troops during the operation. Others in the gang vanished into the forest, some were thought to have been shot.
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The soldiers then brought Egbiki back unharmed and got the ₦1.5m ransom amount due the kidnappers.
The farmer was debriefed and medically evaluated after being rescued before he was reunited with his family. He is allegedly in stable condition.
The security forces then started with the follow-up clearance of forest zones around that area on August 7 and 8, during which they attempted to search the path followed by the gang members which were in the forest. During the operations, no further contact was made with the suspected kidnappers, the Army said.
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The Army said the move was “ another pointer” to its intelligence-based strategy in combating kidnapping and other crimes of violence in Edo State” It also underscored the need for good working relations between military and police units in combating criminal threats.
The Nigerian Army’s 4 Brigade commander, Brig Gen Ahmed Balogun, praised the army’s courage, professionalism and ahead-of-the-curve action in conducting the operation.
Balogun said the Brigade will have no mercy on kidnappers and other criminals operating in the area.
Army jets would keep on flying around and probing the houses of the bad guys and bad people to make sure they did not hide a safe house and to make sure that they made it a safer place to live and to farm and to make it safer and easier for them to live their lives normally.
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The Army advised inhabitants of the State to continue providing security agencies with timely and credible information, noting that actionable intelligence is key to stopping kidnapping, tracking criminals and maintaining security operations in the State.
The rescue comes when Edo was continuing to experience ongoing insecurity issues, prompting rumours about the safety of agriculture. The rescue comes as a time of recurring problems in security in parts of Edo where attacks on farmers and rural communities have been raging, raising questions on issues of safety of agriculture. Ongoing security operations will have to play an important role for those who live in impacted communities to regain trust and confidence that they can return to their communities without risk, and that farmers can return to their agricultural lands, unaffected by the war.
