Gunmen Kidnap Driver, 10 Passengers, Demand N1m Ransom

No fewer than 10 travelers from Ondo State have been abducted by some unknown gunmen along the Obajana-Abuja Highway in Obajana, Kogi State.

The identities of all the victims were still unknown but the owner of the commercial bus which the victims boarded,  Mr. Abdulganiyu Hakeem, said the vehicle took off in Ajowa Akoko and was stopped by the bandits on the highway, abducting the occupants last week,

Hakeem, who is a member of the National Union of Road Transport Workers in Ajowa Akoko, Akoko North-West Local Government Area of the state, said all the occupants of the vehicle kidnapped were still in the den of their abductors.

He said, “The 10 passengers on the bus including the driver were kidnapped and were led into the bush very close to Obajana in Kogi State. One of the passengers is a student of law school in Abuja.”

“We were told that almost 30 passengers from other commercial vehicles were kidnapped at the same time last week.”

He further stated that the hoodlums had contacted the families of the victims demanding a sum of N200,000 for driver and N100,000 for each of the remaining passengers before they would regain freedom.

When contacted, the Ondo State Police Public Relations Officer, CSP Femi Joseph, said the matter did not occur in the jurisdiction of the Ondo Command.

“Since it did not happen here in Ondo, the matter would have been reported at the  Kogi State Command,” Joseph said.