Gunmen on Monday night invaded Bagana community in Omala Local Government Area of Kogi State and abducted the Serikin Hausa of the community, Alhaji Audi Musa.
The gunmen, said to be about 20 and believed to be Agatu militias from Benue state, were said to have whisked away the Hausa leader from his family house in the village.
It was gathered that Musa was asleep when the people invaded the community and forcefully took him away.
The abductors were said to have been armed with various dangerous weapons and shot sporadically into the air to scare away people before reaching their target.
A reliable source who spoke with Metro said: “We were taken by surprise as it was late in the night. The gunmen who came in through the Benue state axis were armed with AK-47 rifles and Improvised Explosive Devices. They went straight to their target, Alhaji Audi Musa, tied him to their motorbike and dragged him on a long distance before escaping through a footpath.
“As I am talking to you, his whereabouts is not known and the entire town is now a ghost of itself as people have been leaving in droves to avoid being caught in any reprisal attack,” the source said.
Bagana, a riverine community, had witnessed destruction of lives and property by the warring Agatu militias and Fulani herdsmen who used the town as a testing ground to launch attacks on each order.
The people of Bagana were said to have been living in palpable fear since 2013 when fight broke out between Agatu and Fulani people in Benue State and they ran to Bagana for refuge.
The town was reduced to rubbles as the fight led to the burning down of several buildings, with several lives lost. The indigenes had barely returned to rebuild their property when the abduction of the Hausa leader occurred.
Confirming the incident, the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Williams Aya, said men of the command had been drafted to the village to restore confidence, while efforts had been intensified to rescue the victim.
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