18 Passengers Abducted In Kogi

All passengers in an 18-seater bus have been reportedly kidnapped at Ochadamu area on Anyigba -Itobe Road in Ofu local government area of Kogi State.

An eyewitness said the incident occurred at 4.pm on Monday at a notorious kidnapping spot in the Ochadamu area.

LEADERSHIP Friday learnt from a competent source in the area that the hoodlums in their numbers flagged down the said bus at gunpoint on that spot on the highway and evacuated the passengers to the bush.

The bus was said to be heading to Abuja from the eastern region of the country.

The locals added further that kidnapping in the Ochadamu flash point which reduced drastically all these while has resumed recently after the army checkpoint in the areas was dismantled since the last accident that killed many and destroyed over 20 cars in the area.

The security operatives, including the vigilantes in the area were said to be making frantic efforts to rescue the kidnapped victims since the incident happened on Monday.

The state security adviser to Governor Yahaya Bello, Navy commander Jerry Omodara ( rtd) , who  confirmed the incident yesterday however said that the state government is on top of the situation.

He stated that the state government has put enough measures in place to arrest the kidnappers and rescue the victims as well as stem the tide of criminal activities in the area.

He said that since the hoodlums are coming back from their cells to operate in that region again, the government will rejig its strategies and match fire to fire, assuring that the hoodlums will be neutralised shortly.

“We have fought them; we will fight them and we will continue to fight them, until they are neutralised in that axis of the state. Security agents have been alerted and they will do the needful”, he said.

He stated further that the government has zero tolerance for criminal activities in any part of the state , assuring that the tide of such ugly incidents will be reduced and in fact eliminated.

All efforts to reach the state police command however proved abortive as repeated calls to the public relations officer, William Aya was not responded to.