10 passengers kidnapped in Benue

At least 10 passengers traveling in a Sharon bus from Taraba State have been reportedly kidnapped in the Jootar axis of Ukum Local Government Area in Benue State.

Our correspondent gathered that the bus was conveying the passengers to the Gboko area of the state on their way to Akure in Ondo State before gunmen intercepted them in Jootar, a Benue border community with Taraba State.

It was also learnt that the kidnapped victims are artisans and not students as was widely speculated.

A resident of the area where the incident happened told journalists that the driver of the vehicle explained that his bus was stopped by heavily armed gunmen who took over the steering, abandoned him and drove into the bush with 10 persons (passengers) who looked like artisans whom he was supposed to drop off in Gboko.

The resident said, “It’s a Sharon bus. They took the driver’s phone. The incident happened around 12 mid-day on Friday, that was what the driver told me. He picked them from Takum in Taraba and the incident happened just 2km from there in Jootar, Ukum LGA. He was supposed to take them to Gboko as they (passengers) were enroute Akure, Ondo State.”

A member of the House of Assembly representing Ukum State Constituency, Ezra Nyiyongo, also told journalists in Makurdi that he was told that a vehicle was intercepted in his area.

But council chairman of Ukum LGA, Victor Iorzaa, told journalists that neither the Chief Security Officer of the local government nor the Divisional Police Officer could confirm any such incident.

Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police in Benue State, CP Emmanuel Adesina, said in a telephone conversation with journalists that the command was yet to get the report of such incident.