A group of armed gunmen seized scores of travellers, including a medical doctor and his son, on a highway linking Southeast Enugu State and Makurdi, the capital city of Northcentral Benue State last Thursday (Dec. 21). The crime took place despite the heavy presence of military and police posts, ten poles apart.
According to sources who spoke to Sahara Reporters on Saturday (Dec. 23), the bandits laid ambush for travellers, in transit for the Christmas- and New Year festivities. At least six vehicles en route to Enugu from Nigeria’s capital Abuja and other northern states were hijacked, and all occupants whisked away at gunpoint.
The medical doctor whose name was given as Dr Emma Okolo was traveling in the company of his wife, son, and another lady. The bandits kidnapped all but spared Okolo’s wife, whom they have contacted to demand a N50 million ransom before the victims could be set free.
—Ezinwanne Onwuka reports for TruthNigeria from Abuja.
