Gunmen have reportedly abducted no fewer than 14 passengers along the Makurdi/Naka/Adoka road area of Benue State.
The incident happened between 10 and 11am on Thursday, about three kilometres from Naka, the headquarters of the Gwer West Local Government Area of Benue State.
According to a commercial driver who did not want to be mentioned for security reasons, the vehicles involved were Picnic and Sharon buses; each of the vehicles carried 12 passengers.
Confirming the incident to our correspondent through telephone chat, the secretary of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, High-Level Unit, Yakubu Onu, said the two commercial vehicles belong to their members at High-Level Park, Makurdi
Onu said one of the vehicles left Makurdi and was heading to Lokoja Thursday morning when it was ambushed by gunmen near Naka.
He added that the second vehicle which was ambushed at the same spot, was coming from Ankpa in Kogi State to Makurdi.
Onu said, “The First vehicle was going to Lokoja with nine passengers on board and six of them were abducted and taken to the bush.
“The second vehicle was coming from Ankpa and coming to Makurdi, eight passengers were abducted at the same spot near Naka.
The NURTW High-Level unit scribe said that three passengers were spared from the vehicle going to Lokoja and that the driver with the three passengers went to the Naka police station to report the incident.
“The driver called and told us that after he reported at the police station in Naka, he was asked to proceed on his journey but we have not heard from him,” Onu said.
Also confirming the abduction, the traditional ruler of Naka, HRH, Daniel Abomtse, said that the gunmen ambushed two commercial vehicles and went away with some of the passengers.
He said one elderly woman, a breastfeeding woman, and some kids with the driver were spared by gunmen.
“The incident happened at Okpa near Adoka and bordering Gwer West LGA and there is an ungoverned space around this area that has become a haven of criminals,” the monarch said.
The traditional ruler who identified some ungoverned spaces that have been a haven for criminals appealed to the Federal Government to order aerial surveys of the coastal areas of Benue and Nasarawa states.
When contacted, Benue State Command Public Relations Officer, Catherine Anene, a Chief Superintendent of Police, said she did not have the report.
“I don’t have this report,” Anene said in a terse text message.
