Gunmen abduct six mourners conveying corpse to Benue

Gunmen suspected to be kidnappers have abducted six persons who were conveying the corpse of a woman to Okpoga, the headquarters of the Okpokwu Local Government Area of Benue State.

According to sources, the mourners left Kano on Friday, heading to Okpoga to bury the deceased, but the vehicle in which they were travelling was intercepted along the notorious Adoka Road, and the occupants were whisked away.

The kidnappers were said to have abandoned the corpse.

A sympathiser who raised the alarm on social media said, “A man from Kano was carrying the dead body of his wife, who died in Kano, to Okpoga for burial on Friday.

“They left Kano and got to Adoka at about 8 pm. The husband of the deceased and five of his friends were in the vehicle when they were kidnapped along Adoka Road.

“The kidnappers abandoned the dead body while they took the six people to the bush, and from Friday till today (Monday), they have yet to be released, while a family member of the victims whom I know said that the kidnappers were demanding N15 million.”

The sympathiser said that men of the Federal Road Safety Corps saw the body on the road on Saturday and took it to the police station in Adoka, while the police later deposited it in the mortuary.

The Chairman of Otukpo Local Government, Maxwell Ogiri, who confirmed the incident to journalists in a telephone interview on Monday, said that the driver of the vehicle was his friend.

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He said, “Yes, it happened. Incidentally, the driver of the vehicle is my friend. This is the unfortunate incident we are seeing. It is really traumatic.

“The kidnappers are demanding N15 million. But the security agencies are trying to track the kidnappers. Also, our vigilantes and youths are not resting in their efforts to ensure that the kidnapped victims are rescued.”

Also confirming the incident in a telephone interview with journalists on Monday, the state command spokesperson, DSP Peter Aondongu, said that the incident happened on Friday.

“It’s true; the incident happened on Friday, and our men are making efforts to rescue the victims,” Aondongu said.

The Otukpo, Adoka and Ohimini axes have become notorious for kidnapping in recent times.

On October 16, gunmen abducted the Catholic priest, Rev. Fr. John Otache, and seven others while they were returning from a village market along the Ugbokolo–Ajegbe–Awume Road before Ipiga Village in the Ohimini Local Government Area of the state.

Also in August, gunmen abducted 14 passengers travelling to Abuja along the Otukpo–Adoka Road.