BY GODWIN OBI
Anambra State Commissioner for Youths Development, Patrick Aghamba, and his wife have been kidnapped.
Sources said an aide of the commissioner, whose name was given as Kpajie ABK Offiah, an Onitsha youth and a stalwart of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), who was travelling with them, was shot dead by the kidnappers.
According to reports, they were on their way to Abuja for the wedding of Governor Chukwuma Soludo’s daughter taking place on Saturday, August 17th, when they were kidnapped at the Kogi axis of the route.
Confirming the incident, the Press Secretary to Governor Soludo, Christian Aburime, said the government was yet to find out the exact location where the incident happened as Ubiaja, Edo State, was mentioned as well as Kogi State
Aghamba was one of the 20 commissioners appointed by Governor Soludo in 2022.
The commissioner’s kidnapping incident comes hours after police authorities said that about 20 medical students had been kidnapped in Benue State.
The victims were said to be on their way to Enugu State, passing through the Otukpo Local Government Area in Benue before they encountered bandits.
According to the Public Relations Officer of the Benue State Police Command, Sewuese Anene, the victims were en route to Enugu for a programme when they ran into the kidnappers around Otukpo
The students were said to be travelling in a convoy of two buses and were coming from the northern part of the country when they ran into the ambush on Thursday evening at about 5:30 pm.
In a related development, about 20 medical students have been kidnapped in Benue State, the police authorities said on Friday.
The victims were on their way to Enugu State, passing through the Otukpo Local Government area in Benue before they encountered bandits.
According to the Public Relations Officer of the Benue State Police Command, Sewuese Anene, the victims were en route to Enugu for a programme when they ran into the kidnappers around Otukpo.
The students were said to be travelling in a convoy of two buses and were coming from the northern part of the country when they ran into the ambush on Thursday evening at about 5:30 pm.
“Yes, it happened yesterday, Thursday evening around 5:30 pm. The Medical students were said to be travelling from Jos axis and were heading to Enugu in two buses, for a programme when they were kidnapped around the Otukpo area,” he said.
“Though I cannot tell which university they were from, they were medical students in transit. I am yet to receive full details of the incident but I can assure you that investigation into the matter has already commenced.”
In the past six years, the federal highway from Otukpo through Ugbokolo in the Okpokwu Local Government Area down to Odoba and Otukpa in Ogbadibu Local Government Area has become one of Nigeria’s dangerous roads to travel due to the notorious kidnap syndicate controlling the thick forests and vast ungoverned spaces.
About six weeks ago, the management team of the Benue State Polytechnic Ugbokolo, led by the Rector was kidnapped on that axis. This was aside from several other victims including Catholic priests and many other kidnapping cases of motorists with little or no effort to tame the menace.
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2024-08-15
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Pythrocin distributed by Pinnacle Health Pharmaceuticals Ltd2024-08-15