Gunmen 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.
Sources say the mourners set out from Kano on Friday, bound for Okpoga to bury the deceased, but the vehicle they were travelling in was intercepted along the notorious Adoka Road, and those inside were taken away.
The kidnappers reportedly 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 sympathizer stated that officers of the Federal Road Safety Corps spotted the body on the road on Saturday and transported it to the police station in Adoka, after which the police later placed it in the mortuary.
Maxwell Ogiri, the chairman of Otukpo Local Government, who confirmed the incident to journalists during a telephone interview on Monday, said the driver of the vehicle was his friend.
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.”
DSP Peter Aondongu, the state command spokesperson, also confirmed the incident in a telephone interview with journalists on Monday, stating that it occurred on Friday.
“It’s true; the incident happened on Friday, and our men are making efforts to rescue the victims,” Aondongu said.
In recent times, the Otukpo, Adoka, and Ohimini axes have gained notoriety for kidnapping.
On October 16, gunmen kidnapped the Catholic priest, Rev. Fr. John Otache, along with seven others, as they were coming back from a village market on the Ugbokolo–Ajegbe–Awume Road before Ipiga Village in the state’s Ohimini Local Government Area.
Similarly, in August, gunmen kidnapped 14 passengers who were travelling to Abuja along the Otukpo–Adoka Road.
