President Bola Tinubu hails the armed forces for a massive double victory, neutralising notorious bandit leader Ibrahim Bastuji in Kogi and rescuing a late general’s widow in Katsina.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has passed an impassioned vote of confidence in the Nigerian Armed Forces, highly commending frontline troops and joint security agencies for executing two separate, high-stakes tactical operations that resulted in the definitive neutralisation of a notorious bandit kingpin in Kogi State and the successful rescue of a high-profile hostage in Katsina State.
In an official press release issued on Tuesday, June 16, 2026, by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Mr. Bayo Onanuga, the Commander-in-Chief described the double military breakthrough as a severe, devastating blow to the structural networks of terror currently destabilizing parts of the North-West and North-Central geopolitical zones.
The President asserted that these decisive milestones strongly vindicate his administration’s massive investments in intelligence synchronization and military hardware, reinforcing his unyielding executive mandate that Nigeria will never surrender a single square inch of its sovereign territory to armed criminal syndicates.
The first major security triumph occurred in the Kabba/Bunu Local Government Area of Kogi State, where a joint strike force comprising the Nigerian Army, the Department of State Services (DSS), the Nigeria Police Force, and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) successfully ambushed and neutralised the dreaded bandit commander, Ibrahim Bastuji (locally known as Batijo), alongside several of his core fighters.
Bastuji’s heavily armed network had long established a reign of terror across Kogi and neighboring transit states, orchestrating high-end highway abductions, village raids, and targeted executions that inflicted untold socioeconomic hardship on local agrarian communities.
Intelligence sources revealed that the joint task force intercepted the criminal cell in Iluke Bunu just as they were actively finalizing logistics to launch a catastrophic assault on a local school and adjacent residential layouts.
President Tinubu noted that Bastuji’s elimination will instantly restore public confidence and grant much-needed respite to the traumatized populace, warning that anyone choosing the path of violent lawlessness against innocent Nigerians will find absolutely no hiding place.
“I congratulate our gallant troops on this decisive milestone. Nigeria will not surrender any part of its territory to criminals. Those who choose the path of violence against innocent citizens will find no hiding place. This success reflects the renewed determination of our security forces to secure every inch of our land.”said President Bola Ahmed Tinubu
Parallel to the kinetic offensive in Kogi, the President warmly celebrated a deeply emotional victory in the deep forests of the North-West, where troops successfully shattered the captivity of Hajiya Amina Rabe Abubakar, the widow of the late former Chief of Defence Information, Major General Rabe Abubakar (retd).
The high-profile hostage rescue, executed under the defense headquarters’ newly reinforced Operation Clean Sweep III-a specialized sub-component of Operation Fansan Yamma-comes just days after her retired husband tragically passed away while both were being held in a brutal forest camp by their abductors in Katsina State.
To map the distinct geographic operational zones and the specialized security formations that coordinated these back-to-back national breakthroughs, the data panel below breaks down the twin victories:
According to an official briefing from the Director of Defence Information, Major General Samaila Uba, the rescue operation climaxed in a fierce, close-quarter confrontation at Tunga Village in Katsina State.
Realizing they were completely outgunned and surrounded by the advancing infantry, the retreating bandits maliciously shot Mrs. Abubakar before abandoning her body to escape into the dense bush. Troops immediately evacuated the wounded widow to a nearby military medical facility, where she is currently receiving intensive care and responding positively to clinical treatments.
President Tinubu expressed profound relief at her safe return, commending the immense bravery and seamless intelligence coordination of the officers involved, while firmly reassuring the nation that the federal government will continuously provide the armed forces with the cutting-edge training, welfare, and tactical resources required to permanently stamp out banditry and kidnap syndicates across the federation.
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