by Scores of passengers were, on Saturday, abducted when gunmen, suspected to be herdsmen, who blocked Enugu-Port Harcourt highway between Leru Junction and Ihube Community, a boundary between Imo and Abia states, Nigeria’s South-east.
The gunmen, numbering about 30, were said to have attacked three buses along the road and abducted the entire passengers.
The attackers reportedly razed a military van and wounded two soldiers who attempted to confront them, before forcing all occupants of the three buses into a nearby bush, according a report by Vanguard newspaper.
Sources said the situation has caused fear among residents of the area.
Commuters were said to have mistaken the gunmen for police officers mounting roadblock.
Some of the commuters who stepped out of their vehicles to know the cause of a gridlock along the road, scampered for safety when the gunmen opened fire on the military van, a youth leader in the community was quoted as saying.
He said some people sustained bullet wounds, as motorists ran away, abandoning their vehicles.
Commissioner for Information in Abia State, Chikamnayo Eze, has confirmed the attack.
He, however, said the incident occurred at the Imo State side of the expressway.
Mr Eze, who is the Secretary of Umunneochi Security Committee, recently inaugurated by Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State, to tackle rising insecurity in the area, appealed for more time to provide details of the attack.
“In Umunneochi proper, there has been a mass reduction in the number of such incidents but they have migrated to the border between Umunneochi (Abia) and Imo States,” he said.
The police spokesperson in Abia State, Geoffery Ogbonna, did not respond to calls and a text message seeking comments from him.
INCREASED KIDNAP ATTACKS
Kidnapping for ransom has increased in Abia State in recent times.
The latest incident occurred exactly one week after gunmen abducted some travellers in Lokpanta, a community in Umunneochi Local Government Area of the state.
Mid-June, gunmen also abducted a journalist in Umuahia, the state capital. He was released about five days later, after N10 million ransom was reportedly paid.
Earlier in June, Uwadinachi Iweha, a medical doctor and the provost of Gregory University College of Medicine, Umuahia Campus, was also abducted.
He was whisked away while driving out of his residence at Umuajameze Ezeleke Umuopara in Umuahia South Council Area of the state.
Mr Iweha is yet to be released, nearly two months after his abduction.
In May, Samuel Kanu-Uche, the Prelate of the Methodist Church of Nigeria, was kidnapped alongside two other priests, while they were on their way from a programme in Umunneochi Local Government Area of the state.
The clerics were released about two days later after reportedly paying N100 million to the kidnappers.
Source: Premium times
