Not less than 50 wedding guests travelling along the Sokoto-Zamfara highway were on Saturday abducted by bandits.
The victims include telephone marketers at the popular Bebeji Plaza in Gusau who were returning to Gusau after attending a wedding of their colleague in Sokoto State.
According to Channels Television report, the vehicles conveying the wedding guests were a Toyota coaster bus belonging to the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), a Gusau Local Government Secretariat staff vehicle, and two other private vehicles.
Secretary of Union of Communication, Zamfara State, Ashiru Zurmi, while narrating the incident to journalists in Gusau on Sunday said one of the vehicles conveying the guests developed a fault at Tureta in Sokoto state and it was fixed by an automobile mechanic after about 40 minutes.
He said the bandits ambushed the vehicles after the repair of the faulty vehicle along Tureta-Bakura road and over 50 persons were abducted.
According to Zurmi, more than 20 persons later managed to escape, while some of them sustained various degrees of injuries.
“It happened that their motor developed fault at Tureta and they got a mechanic; for about 40 minutes, he assisted them and got the motor repaired; they started coming to Zamfara but within the Tureta and Bakura axis, the kidnappers ambushed them; over 50 people were abducted but Alhamdulilah over 20 people escaped,” Zurmi said.
He confirmed that 30 members are currently in captivity and the abductors have contacted the members of their Union, confirming that they are with them.
“We have identified thirty members that are still in captive, luckily today they used phones of those captives (about five of our members) to call us; they only notified us that they are with them.”
According to him, no ransom has been demanded yet by the bandits.
The Secretary of the Union also suspected the involvement of informants who he said might have notified the kidnappers about their movement.
“Definitely something like that happened; we have that in our minds that there was an informant that gave the information to the bandits to attack them because it was just only them, other passenger cars were passing but they did not care about them, they only concentrated on the coaster bus that has Zamfara Government number.”
Zurmi appealed to relevant authorities for urgent intervention and to ensure safe return of the abductees.
Meanwhile, about thirty people were killed in the early hours of Sunday by suspected armed herdsman in two communities of Okpokwu Local Government Area of Benue State in what has been described as unprovoked attacks on civilians.
Benue State Police Command spokesperson, DSP Sewuese Anene, who confirmed the attack in a statement, did not give intricate details regarding the attack, neither was there a confirmation of the death toll.
“Information about the attack was received and more officers sent to assist Okpokwu Division in managing this, I am yet to receive details,” the spokesperson’s statement partly read.
But the Federal Lawmaker representing Ado, Ogbadibu, and Okpokwu Federal Constituency, Francis Agbo Otta, in a statement issued on Sunday said thirty persons were killed in the attack on Igama Community of Ojigo Ward.
“Growing up in Utonkon District of Ado LGA, I knew Igama in Ojigo Ward of Okpokwu LGA as one of the most peaceful communities in Benue South until recently when terrorists turned it to a cesspool of blood,” the lawmaker’s statement reads.
“I, therefore, condemn the killing of 30 innocent people, and still counting… I have contacted security agents who have responded appropriately.”
With Channels Television report
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