By Igbawase Ukumba
The immediate past Commissioner for Higher Education in Nasarawa State, Mr. Clement Uhembe, was abducted in the late hours of Tuesday at his Lafia residence by gunmen who are demanding N30million ransom for his release.
The incident was confirmed by the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of the Nasarawa State Command, ASP. Ramhan Nansel, who added that the command has mobilised personnel for his rescue.
The gunmen, who were reportedly armed with sophisticated weapons, invaded the residence of Uhembe, who is also a senior lecturer in the Department of Political Science, Federal University, Lafia, at about 8:30p.m.
The wife of the former commissioner, Mrs. Amarya Uhembe, told THISDAY that the abductors, who numbered up to ten, broke into one of their apartments where her husband was resting after the day’s work at the university and whisked him away to an unknown destination.
She said: “The gunmen came at about 8:30p.m. and started knocking forcefully at the door while my husband was in the inner room. I moved close to the door to see who was knocking only to discover that they were heavily armed men.
“When I noticed they were armed men, I quickly tried to close the door, shouting for help before my husband came to join me and we succeeded in closing it.”
“But the gunmen kept pushing until they succeeded in using some objects in breaking the doors and wall to gain entrance.”
She revealed that the gunmen later allowed her husband access to his mobile phone, which he used to communicate to the family their demand for the sum of N30 million ransoms.
