No fewer than three persons have been reportedly abducted along the Nkpologwu-Akpo Road, Nkpologwu, in Aguata Local Government Area of the Anambra State by unidentified assailants.
Nkpologwu is less than nine kilometres from Isuofia, hometown of Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo.
Although the details of the incident remain sketchy, it was gathered that the armed assailants kidnapped the three men at different locations in the community early Sunday.
The kidnap is said to be coming after some gunmen attacked a police checkpoint at the Omata junction along the Nnewi Oba Road where a police officer was killed two days ago.
The recent kidnapping incident was corroborated by a video currently trending on social media, showing a somersaulted vehicle lying along the Nkpologwu-Akpo Road, which a voiceover in the video said belongs to one of the kidnapped victims.
A community leader, who craved anonymity for fear of being victimised, confirmed the development to our correspondent, saying the gunmen invaded the area at about 7:30 am and whisked the victims away in their various vehicles.
He said, “Two of the victims, including a lawyer, are based in Abuja, while the third victim is based, in Port Harcourt. The hoodlums whisked them away to an unknown destination after double-crossing their vehicles along the Nkpologwu-Akpo Road. While the hoodlums were chasing one of them, his vehicle unfortunately somersaulted and still lying on the road.”
Also, the President-General of the Nkpologwu Community, Prof. Ferdinand Ezeiruaku, said: “The three men were kidnapped at different locations in the community by the heavily armed men. The victims had just returned to attend an occasion that was held on Saturday, which was organised by the women of the community as part of their August meeting.”
He said the suspected kidnappers had yet to contact the families of the victims to demand ransom or otherwise.
When contacted, the Spokesman for the Anambra State Police Command, Tochukwu Ikenga, could not confirm the development but rather said, “I will make further enquiry and get back to you.”
First published in The PUNCH
