Anxiety mounted in Ajowa Akoko
community in Ondo State over the alleged kidnap of a commercial bus driver and
10 other Abuja bound travellers by unknown gunmen.
They were reportedly abducted along Obajana-Abuja highway in
Obajana, Kogi State. The owner of the commercial bus, which the victims boarded
in Ajowa, Mr Abdulganiyu Hakeem, raised the alarm.
Hakeem said that the vehicle took off in Ajowa Akoko and was stopped by the bandits on the highway and all the passengers and driver were marched into the forest. The owner of the commercial bus, who is a member of the National Union of Road Transport Workers in Ajowa Akoko, Akoko North-West council area of the state, said all the occupants have not been seen or heard from since last week.
Hakeem said “The 10 passengers in the bus
including the driver were kidnapped and were led to the bush very close to
Obajana in Kogi State. One of the passengers is a student of law school in
Abuja.”
“We were told that almost 30 passengers from other commercial
vehicles were kidnapped at the same time last week .” According to him “the
hoodlums had contacted the families of the victims and have demanded a sum of
N200,000 for driver and N100,000 for each of the remaining passengers before
they would regain freedom.
Vanguard gathered that the families of
the abducted passengers have started looking for money to pay the ransom
demanded by the abductors. Contacted the state police image maker Femi Joseph,
said the incident occurred outside the jurisdiction of the Ondo Command. Joseph
noted that ” Since it did not happen here in Ondo, the matter would have been
reported at the Kogi State Command,”
