- Two people managed a narrow escape, while 11 others were abducted by armed gunmen near Port Harcourt
- The incident reportedly on Monday, August 21, between Ndele and Elele Alimini communities in Rivers
- The state police command says they have launched an investigation into the incidence
11 people on a bus near Port Harcourt were abducted by unknown gunmen on Monday, August 21, while five of the passengers escaped.
The State Commissioner of Police, Ahmed Zaki, on Tuesday, August 22 confirmed the incident at the state police command headquarters in Port Harcourt.
He condemned the incident and said that efforts are underway to rescue the victims and bring the perpetrators to book.
According to Premium Times, one of the escaped passengers said that the ambush took place around 9 p.m. on Monday between Ndele and Elele Alimini communities.
The passenger whose name is Amiekro Princewill said: “After asking us to come out from the bus, they tried to take us inside the bush but five of us in the bus escaped before police and military personnel arrived the scene."
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Another passenger who escaped, Bright Belekwe, explained that 18 passengers and the driver, had embarked on the journey but 16 persons were in the vehicle after two others alighted earlier.
“We were 18 excluding the driver who boarded the bus from Rumuokoro going to Ahoada but when we got to Ndele, two people dropped. After that, between Ndele and Elele Alimini, hoodlums ambushed us and tried to take us inside the bush.
“I and four others escaped before police personnel arrived the scene. We were ushered into another vehicle by the police which took us back to town,” Mr Belekwe said.
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Meanwhile, NAIJ.com earlier reported that Hussaini Akwanga, a former minister of labour and productivity, who was abducted from his farm in Akwanga, Nasarawa state by unknown gunmen has been freed.
Akwanga had served as minister under former President Olusegun Obasanjo. It was confirmed by the spokesman of the Nasarawa state police command, Kennedy Idrisu, on Thursday, August 24.
Watch this NAIJ.com video on the activities of kidnappers in Lagos: