A former Secretary to the Enugu State Government, Dr. Dan Shere has been abducted.
He is among several other commuters kidnapped along the Enugu-Ugwuogo Nike-Nsukka Road on Thursday.
Shere, a medical doctor, served under the administration of former Governor, Chimaroke Nnamani.
A source told reporters that the Enugu politician was travelling to Nsukka for a meeting when the gunmen attacked him alongside other travellers.
One of the survivors, who shared a video of the attack, said the gunmen were about eight in number.
“They shot severally at our vehicle; one of us was hit by the bullets. But our driver managed to move on. We succeeded in taking the victim to the hospital,” he narrated while thanking God for saving him and four others from the same community.
Meanwhile, it was gathered that the kidnappers, who are said to be Fulani herdsmen, have increased their ransome demand on those they earlier picked on Sunday.
“They earlier demanded the sum of N2m on one of the victims but they have now increased it to N30m. They search the phones of the victims to know their status,” the source said.
An enquiry sent to the Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Enugu State Police Command, DSP Daniel Ndukwe has not been returned as of the time of filing this report.
And Enugu state government is yet to make an official statement on the issue.
Enugu: Security heads vow to end kidnapping along Ugwogo-Opi road
…As Gov. Ugwuanyi, Army GOC, Police CP, DSS Director, others visit hideouts, take decisive measures
Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State, on Thursday, led the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 82 Division of the Nigerian Army, Maj. Gen. Umar Musa, the State Commissioner of Police, CP Ahmed Ammani, the Director of Department of State Services (DSS) H.M Daluwa, the Garrison Commander, 82 Division, Nigerian Army, Brig. Gen. M.K Ibrahim, among others, to Ugwogo-Opi road on a strategic assessment of the area, including the hideouts of kidnappers, with a view to decisively ending the recent kidnapping incidents along the road.
Addressing newsmen during the on-the-spot assessment visit, the GOC, 82 Division, Nigerian Army, Maj. Gen. Musa, who spoke on behalf of the other heads of security agencies in the state, confirmed that “the perpetrators are purely kidnappers.”
He assured the public that the combined-team of the security agencies are taking further steps into the bush to apprehend the perpetrators, rescue the victims and end the menace along the road.
“I assure you that we are going to go deep into the bush to pursue them and ensure they do not perpetrate more harm along the road,” he said.
Acknowledging the presence of Gov. Ugwuanyi on the visit and his utmost commitment towards ending the security challenges being posed by the hoodlums along the Ugwogo-Opi road, the GOC assured the public that “these criminals will be fished out and they will be dealt with.”
Maj. Gen. Musa advised members of the public to report to the security agencies whenever there is any incident rather than rushing to the social media, stressing that “news items on social media platforms are usually unconfirmed incidents and could send wrong notion to the public.”
The GOC maintained that Enugu remains a peaceful state notwithstanding the unfortunate incidents along Ugwogo-Opi road, saying: “We are here; we have seen the deployment; this state is peaceful but once in a while you have criminals and I assure you that these criminals will be fished out and they will be dealt with.”
Earlier, Gov. Ugwuanyi visited the GOC 82 Division of the Nigeria Army in his office in Enugu where they met behind closed doors before they embarked on the assessment visit to Ugwogo-Opi road with other heads of security agencies..
