John Shiklam in Kaduna and Victor Ogunje in Ado Ekiti
Eleven people have been reportedly abducted at the staff quarters of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) Kaduna.
The quarters is located just before the airport tollgate.
Multiple sources said the incident occurred at about 2:00 a.m. on Saturday when gunmen invaded the quarters.
An official of the Kaduna Airport who spoke on condition of anonymity confirmed the incident.
He said the gunmen gained access to the staff quarters by vandalising the parameter fence between the airport and the staff quarters.
According to him, the bandits attacked two houses in the staff quarters and abducted 11 people.
He said: “The gunmen invaded the staff quarters at about 2am on Saturday and attack two houses.
“The houses of a staff of Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) and a staff of the Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NiMET).
“The bandits abduct nine members of the family of the NAMA staff and the wife and son of the NiMet staff.
“The staff quarter is located before the tollgate to the airport. It is all fenced, but bandits tempered with the parameter fence and entered the staff quarters.
“They came in through the land side where flights operates. The cut the parameters fence between the airport and the quarters”, he said.
Mohammad Jalige, spokesman of the Kaduna state police command, did not respond to telephone calls and text messages when contacted.
In a similar development Friday, suspected herdsmen have killed two farmers in Isaba Ekiti, Ikole Local Government Area (LGA) Ekiti State.
The murder occurred on Friday evening when the farmers were said to have had a confrontation with the herders which escalated to bloodshed.
A resident of the town confirmed that one of the victims was popularly known as Jisoro while the other was a security guard with a construction company.
The assailants were said to have fled after killing the victims.
Speaking further on the incident, the Public Relations Officer, Ekiti Police Command, Mr. Sunday Abutu, said the crisis between the farmers and herders led to the death of the two persons.
Abutu, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) stated that it was a confrontation between the farmers and people suspected to be Fulani herdsmen, who were alleged to have been terrorising the Ipao-Oke Ako-Irele axis of the council area.
Abutu added that the deceased’s corpses have been recovered and deposited in the morgue at Ikole General Hospital.
He said there was “a crisis between some farmers and Bororo herders. In the process, there were casualties. The police were contacted and operatives have been deployed to that axis to maintain peace.
“Meanwhile investigation has already commenced to unravel the reason for the crisis and to ensure that culprits are brought to book. Corpses of the victims had already been deposited in the morgue”.
Abutu said the Commissioner for Police, Mr. Babatunde Mobayo, called for calm, saying his men are on the trail of the suspected killers.
The Commander of Amotekun Corps in Ekiti State, Brig.-Gen. Joe Komolafe, said the victims were declared missing on Friday having gone to farm and did not return home, fuelling speculation that something terrible must have happened to them.
Akomolafe said the incident was reported to the police and Amotekun, who assembled their operatives and went to their farm where the victims were found dead.
“Upon inquiry, we learnt that the victims fought with the Bororo herders for coming to harvest Bee’s honey in their farms on Wednesday, which degenerated to exchange of fisticuffs.
“In a reprisal attack, the Bororo herders were said to have come back to the farm again on Friday and shot the two men dead,” Akomolafe explained.
