10 persons kidnapped in Edo
Segun Awofadeji in Bauchi and Adibe Emenyonu in Benin City
10 persons kidnapped in Edo
The Christian Solidarity Worldwide Nigeria (CSWN) has condemned the continued mass abductions carried out in schools, communities and demand for ransom by bandits in many parts of Northern Nigeria. It warned that the unfortunate and continuously worrisome incidents underline an attack on the future of Nigeria’s growth and development.
This is just as the wife of the youth leader of Sobe in Owan West Local Government Area of Edo State, Mrs. Irouje Omian, and nine others, consisting of five women and four men, have been reportedly kidnapped.
In a press statement made available to our correspondent by its Research and Press Officer, Reuben Buhari , yesterday, CSWN said it views the spike in frequent mass kidnappings in both schools and vulnerable communities as capable of wreaking great havoc on the country in future.
Chronicling the high profile abductions particularly in Northern Nigeria, the faith based non-governmental organization (NGO) said the serial abductions are almost normative in frequencies underline both a retrogressive response from duty-bearers and a lack of intelligence utilization.
It said: “About 10 years ago – April 2014 – Nigeria got a rude awakening to the menace of large school abductions when 276 students of Government Secondary School Chibok were herded into the bush.
“Years later, almost 100 of those girls are yet to return. In between that kidnapping and today, we have had other large-scale school abductions all across certain northern states that include the 2018 abduction of 110 school girls in Dapchi, Yobe state; the 2020 abduction of about 300 boys from a secondary school in Kankara, Katsina state.
“Others are the 2021 abduction of 317 School girls of Government Girls Secondary School, Jangebe, Zamfara State; the 2021 abduction of 39 students of Federal College of Forestry Mechanization, Afaka, the Baptist school abduction of 121 students, the Greenfield University abduction among many others.
“The latest was the abduction of 287 school children and some teachers from LEA Primary School, Kuriga in Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State on 7th March, 2024 and the abduction of 87 people from Kajuru station in Kajuru Local Government Area of Kaduna state on 17th March, 2024.
“This local government has recently seen a spike in kidnappings: within a week, about 30 people were kidnapped from different communities, including that of Friday 16th March, where 15 people were kidnapped from Dogon Noma village.
“Chikun is another Local Government in Kaduna state that is witnessing an upward surge in kidnapping,” the organisation decried.
It also said the orgy of abductions has placed a heavy burden on the Government and security Agencies to fashion out better response techniques to these incidents that haven’t shown signs of abating.
In the statement, the Chief Executive Officer of CSWN, Reverend Yunusa Nmadu, noted that the ratio of security personnel to Nigeria’s approximately 200 million inhabitants hasn’t helped the situation.
“In addition to increasing personnel to meet demands, technology should also be deployed, effective border control, stiffer penalties of perpetrators and reduction in corruption would go a long way in improving the security situation in the country,” he said.
Meanwhile, the wife of the youth leader of Sobe in Owan West Local Government Area of Edo State, Mrs. Irouje Omian, and nine others, consisting of five women and four men, have been reportedly kidnapped.
It was learnt yesterday that the kidnappers blocked the road between Sobe and the popular Agric Junction, thereby waylaying their victims, who were seized and moved to an unknown location, before the arrival of security operatives in the area.
A leader of Sobe, who spoke in confidence, stated that the residents were living in fear, as a result of the activities of the criminals, especially kidnappers.
The Sobe leader said the kidnappers had not contacted the relatives of the victims for ransom negotiation, while calling on the gunmen to release the indigenes of the community unhurt and unconditionally.
Last year, 14 persons were killed in Sobe, thereby heightening tension in the area.
In view of the alarming rate of kidnapping in the and its environs, the federal government, in 2023, built mini barracks at Sobe, yet the criminal activities had not abated.
The Edo State Police Command Spokesperson, Chidi Nwabuzor, when contacted confirmed the incident but said three persons were kidnapped.
He added: “On March 20, Police received information that hoodlums suspected to be kidnappers attacked road users coming from Ifon to Sobe by Agric farm along Sobe-Ifon road.
“The information gathered there revealed that two women who were on motorcycle and a driver of truck carrying sachet water were kidnapped by the hoodlums.”
He said the police operatives have been carrying out bush combing operation to ensuring the rescue of the victims unhurt.
