Kidnappers kill driver, abduct 13 in Nasarawa

Kidnappers have shot dead a driver, Adamu Usman, and abducted 13 passengers near Shafa-Abakpa -Umaisha road in Toto Local Government Council of Nasarawa State.

Daily Trust learnt that the deceased who was shot three times on his abdomen died at about 9pm at the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital in Gwagwalada where he and one other driver, Attahiru Abukwo, who was also shot, were receiving treatment.

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A driver who narrowly escaped the attack, Ibrahim Saidu, said the incident happened around 5pm on Tuesday when the kidnappers in their large number, wielding AK-47 rifles, emerged from the bush to lay ambush on four vehicles coming from Ugya village.

According to him, the kidnappers laid ambush and opened fire on the vehicles that were conveying passengers from Ugya to Abaji.

He said the kidnappers immediately surrounded the vehicles after the drivers lost control and skidded to a halt in the bush.

“They whisked away 13 passengers including a middle-aged woman into the bush at gunpoint.

“In fact, I was driving behind the four vehicles in front of me, but it was God that saved me when I stopped at one of the villages to pick a passenger. As I was coming, I heard gunshots and immediately made a U-turn,” he said.

The Ohimegye of Opanda-Umaisha, His Royal Majesty (HRM), Usman Abdullahi, said some remnants of bandits inside a forest along the axis have been responsible for kidnapping of travellers, residents as well as farmers in the area.

“There are some remnants of these bandits that are still terrorising our people along this axis, so I am appealing to the state government to collaborate with the federal government to see how the bandits can be flushed out completely,” he said.

When contacted, the spokesman of the Nasarawa State police command, ASP Ramhan Nansel, said he was yet to be briefed on the latest kidnap incident, adding that he would reach out to the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Toto Local Government to get details about it and get back to our reporter.