Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia
The menacing activities of kidnappers suspected to be Fulani herdsmen got to a feverish height weekend, when the dare-devil bandits blocked the ever-busy Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway and began to abduct unlucky passengers.
According to a local source, no fewer than the entire occupants of three passenger buses were abducted and whisked away into the bush by the bandits.
The bandits numbering over 30 according to a local source, blocked the dual carriage expressway around evening hours and unleashed terror on commuters.
The incident, according to the source, took place between Leru Junction and Ihube cashew plantation in Imo State.
This is happening less than one week Abia State security task force destroyed some shanties believed to be habouring criminals at the Lokpanta Regional Cattle Market.
The bandits said to be heavily-armed, were said to have attacked a team of soldiers drafted to the scene following a distress call.
They reportedly set the military van on fire, and allegedly wounded two soldiers before herding all occupants of three buses they abducted into the bush.
A youth leader in Umunneochi told Ikengaonline on Monday that the situation had heightened tension in the area.
He said that the bandits took advantage of the evening showers on Saturday and blocked the highway, causing a gridlock that stretched down to Leru Junction as commuters mistook them to be policemen on roadblock.
According to him, some of the commuters who had alighted to verify the cause of the gridlock took to their heels when the bandits opened fire on a military van that came to save the situation.
He said that some people sustained bullet wounds as motorists abandoned their vehicles and scampered to safety.
Kidnapping for ransom has assumed a nightmarish dimension around the vicinity since after the abduction of the Prelate of Methodist Church, His Eminence Dr Samuel Uche, and two clerics on his entourage.
They regained their freedom after a ransom of N100 million was paid, and the Prelate had during a press conference, said his abductors were Fulani.
When contacted, Commissioner for Information Abia State, Eze Chikamnayo, who also doubles as the Secretary of Umunneochi Security Committee, recently inaugurated by Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu, to tackle the menacing security challenges in the area, confirmed there was abduction at the area weekend.
He, however, said that the incident took place at the Imo State side of the expressway, and begged for more time to be able to give accurate information on the casualty figure.
According to him, “It happened at the expressway between Ihube and Umunneochi. In Umunneochi proper, there has been a mass reduction in the number of such incidents but they have obviously migrated to the border between Umunneochi and Imo State.
“But Umunneochi Security Committee worked very hard. We are putting checkpoints and we have strengthened our vigilante, and have potentially repelled them.
“I think it’s a sign of victory for us that they have left Umunneochi LGA and migrated further towards the express. They are at the boundary between Abia and Imo, precisely at Ihube.
“It happened at Ihube and not in Umunneochi side of the divide.”
Efforts to extract a response from the Army were unsuccessful as the Army Public Relations Officer, 14 Brigade Ohafia, Lt. Innocent Omale, said he was in a conference when he was contacted.
As at the time of filing this report, he had yet to respond to a text message sent to his phone.
When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer in charge of Abia State, Geoffrey Ogbonna did not pick his calls but the Zonal PPRO in charge of Zone 9, Yisrael Jack Rabin, said the zone was not yet aware of the incident as his office had not received any situation report concerning such.
He, however, promised to make enquiries from the state commands.
Kidnapping for ransom has continued to soar across the South-East despite multiple security checkpoints in the zone.
