2 Mourners, Policeman Kidnapped In Benue

Two mourners and a police officer were abducted on Makurdi-Naka Road in Ahume village of Gwer-West local government area on Tuesday evening.

The incident was confirmed to LEADERSHIP by the chairman of the local government area, Andrew Ayande.

 He said the victims’ abduction occurred at 4 pm when some mourners were returning from Naka to Makurdi after the burial of a relation.

He said, “We lost one prominent person and the corpse was being taken home for burial and after which the people came as usual and attacked the vehicle conveying the people back to their homes where three of them were waylaid by the kidnappers and taken to an unknown destination.”

Ayande said the vehicle conveying them has been taken to Naka Police Station, even as he said that the kidnappers always operate in that particular area.

According to him, “A policeman and two others were kidnapped and the kidnappers have opened negotiations with the family of the victims; for the police officer, they are demanding N200,000, N1 million for the woman and N500,000 for the yet-to-be identified person.”

When contacted, the Benue State police command public relations officer Catherine Anene said she was yet to get the report.

A few months ago, the divisional police officer (DPO) of Naka was killed by gunmen in the same area during a gun duel.