Armed men suspected to be bandits have abducted 19 passengers in two commercial vehicles along the Makurdi/Naka/Adoka Road in Benue State on Thursday.
The incidents, according to locals, happened at about three kilometres from Naka, the headquarters of Gwer West local government area of the State, which is a hotshot for attacks and kidnapping.
A commercial driver, who did not want his name in print, told our correspondent in a telephone interview that the vehicles involved were Picnic and Sharon model buses – each of the vehicles carrying nine and 10 passengers including their drivers, respectively.
Confirming the incident to our correspondent through telephone chat, the secretary of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), High-Level Unit, Yakubu Onu, said the two commercial vehicles belong to their members.
He said one of the vehicles had left Makurdi, the State capital, to Lokoja in Kogi State earlier on Thursday morning when it was ambushed by gunmen near Naka town.
Onu added that the second vehicle, which was ambushed at the same spot, was coming from Ankpa in Kogi State to Makurdi.
“The first vehicle was going to Lokoja with nine passengers on board and six of them were abducted and taken to the bush,” he stated.
Also confirming the incident, the Ter Tyoshin and chairman of the Gwer West Traditional Council, HRH Daniel Abomtse, informed that an elderly woman, a lactating mother and her two children, including a driver, were not abducted.
According to him, “the spared passengers reported the incident to the Police Station, and they were later released to continue their journey.”
When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), SP Catherine Anene, said she was yet to receive any information regarding the incidents.
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