{"id":171944,"date":"2025-07-31T17:20:28","date_gmt":"2025-07-31T16:20:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/gov-okpebholo-declares-war-on-cultists-kidnappers-in-edo"},"modified":"2025-07-31T19:00:24","modified_gmt":"2025-07-31T18:00:24","slug":"gov-okpebholo-declares-war-on-cultists-kidnappers-in-edo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/gov-okpebholo-declares-war-on-cultists-kidnappers-in-edo","title":{"rendered":"Gov Okpebholo declares war on cultists, kidnappers in Edo"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>Edo State Governor, Monday Okpebholo, has reaffirmed his administration\u2019s commitment to eradicating cultism, kidnapping, and other criminal activities threatening the peace and security of the state.<\/p>\n<p>The governor gave the assurance after a high-level strategy meeting with commanders and key figures of the State Special Security Squad, held behind closed doors in Benin City.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking to journalists afterward, Okpebholo said the discussion focused on intensifying efforts to dismantle criminal networks and secure all parts of Edo, thereby creating an environment conducive to economic growth and public safety.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe just concluded a very productive meeting centred on tackling cultism and kidnapping across Edo State,\u201d the governor stated. \u201cOur goal is to make this state safe for every resident and visitor. This is essential to building a vibrant economy and restoring public confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He added that the session enabled security leaders to align on new strategies and actions aimed at sustaining the fight against insecurity.<\/p>\n<p>The State Special Security Squad, comprising personnel from the Nigerian Army, Nigeria Police Force, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, local hunters, vigilante groups, and rehabilitated ex-cultists, has in recent times intensified operations, leading to several arrests and successful raids on known criminal hideouts.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Nigeria<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. Edo State Governor, Monday Okpebholo, has reaffirmed his administration\u2019s commitment to eradicating cultism, kidnapping, and other criminal activities threatening the peace and security of the state. The governor gave the assurance after a high-level strategy meeting with commanders and key figures of the State Special Security Squad, held behind closed doors in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":171943,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,14],"tags":[443,254,12790],"class_list":["post-171944","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-edo","tag-nigeria","tag-okpebholo"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Gov Okpebholo declares war on cultists, kidnappers in Edo - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Edo State Governor, Monday Okpebholo, has reaffirmed his administration\u2019s commitment to eradicating cultism, kidnapping, ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/gov-okpebholo-declares-war-on-cultists-kidnappers-in-edo\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Gov Okpebholo declares war on cultists, kidnappers in Edo\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Edo State Governor, Monday Okpebholo, has reaffirmed his administration\u2019s commitment to eradicating cultism, kidnapping, ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/gov-okpebholo-declares-war-on-cultists-kidnappers-in-edo\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-07-31T16:20:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-31T18:00:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/07\/sm_1753971995.226449.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"649\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/gov-okpebholo-declares-war-on-cultists-kidnappers-in-edo#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/gov-okpebholo-declares-war-on-cultists-kidnappers-in-edo\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Gov Okpebholo declares war on cultists, kidnappers in Edo\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-07-31T16:20:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-31T18:00:24+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/gov-okpebholo-declares-war-on-cultists-kidnappers-in-edo\"},\"wordCount\":220,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/gov-okpebholo-declares-war-on-cultists-kidnappers-in-edo#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/07\/sm_1753971995.226449.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Edo\",\"Nigeria\",\"Okpebholo\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/gov-okpebholo-declares-war-on-cultists-kidnappers-in-edo#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/gov-okpebholo-declares-war-on-cultists-kidnappers-in-edo\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/gov-okpebholo-declares-war-on-cultists-kidnappers-in-edo\",\"name\":\"Gov Okpebholo declares war on cultists, kidnappers in Edo - 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