Kidnappers have abducted passengers of two Abuja-bound buses in the Inele-Eteke Ogugu, New Road area of Kogi East district.
A source told Channels Television on Monday that the incident involved a GIG and ABC Transport buses heading to Abuja from the eastern part of the country.
The source said that the GIG bus left Umuahia in Abia State at 7:30 am on Saturday on its way to Abuja, the nation’s seat of power. In the wake of the abduction, he said GIG had contacted security services to track down the abductors.
Rescue Mission Begins
Meanwhile, Kogi State Police Command has confirmed the incident.
The command’s spokesman William Ayah in a Monday statement said the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of the area, local vigilantes, and hunters have been in the bush in an effort to rescue the victims.
He said the incident involved the GIG bus with 12 passengers and a Sienna bus belonging to ABC Transport with two occupants. But the driver of GIG Motors was later rescued by security operatives, the spokesman added.
According to him, Kogi State Commissioner of Police CP Bethrand Onuoha has deployed an additional Tactical Squad consisting of a Quick Response Unit, Police Mobile Force, Counter-Terrorism Unit, and conventional police personnel to the area to continue with the bush combing to ensure all victims are rescued unhurt.
‘Profound Weakness’
The abduction is the latest in the kidnapping incidents that have continued to gain momentum in several parts of the country despite efforts by security agencies and assurances from governments across different levels.
In recent weeks, kidnappers abducted schoolchildren and their teachers in Ekiti State in the country’s South-West region. But they were freed later. Two monarchs were also murdered in the state during the period.
Last weekend, abductors took away 55 persons in the North-Western state of Katsina. They were kidnapped while escorting a bride along Damari town in Sabuwa Local Government Area of the state.
Worried by the spate of insecurity in the country, a security consultant has called on governments to be ruthless in dealing with perpetrators of crime, especially bandits.
“From my profiling of banditry, they see dialogue as a sign of weakness…they don’t see the magnanimity of a governor as anything,” Captain Umar Aliyu (Rtd) said on Tuesday’s edition of Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily. “They see it as a profound weakness. You have to speak to them in the languages they understand.”