Some suspected kidnappers armed with guns have abducted passengers near Ochonyi village, along the Abuja-Lokoja after opening fire on two commercial buses.
The scene of the attack was just a few meters away from a checkpoint, where police only operated during the day and left around 6 p.m.
Our correspondent gathered that one of the passengers of the buses, Shedrack Jonathan, who escaped while being led into the bush, disclosed that he boarded the bus at Jabi in Abuja, travelling to Enugu and that they ran into the gunmen.
According to him, the incident happened around 7:33 pm after Omoko village, last Thursday, while descending a sloppy part of the road, adding that they started hearing gunshots and the bus suddenly veered off the road into the bush.
He added that a few seconds later, some people emerged from the bush with guns and ordered them to come out from the bus and led them into the bush.
He said he managed to escape after about a kilometre from the highway and he came out at neighbouring Aseni village.
“At Aseni village, some vigilantes saw me and I narrated what happened and they mobilized to the scene,” he said.
A member of the vigilante in the area, who preferred anonymity, confirmed the abduction of passengers from the two buses.
He said the gunmen came from the bush and shot the tyres of the two buses, which forced the drivers to stop.
He said, “Before we mobilized to the scene, the gunmen had escaped with the victims, leaving the buses by the road.
He said the vigilantes were still combing the forest to trail the gunmen and rescue the abducted victims unhurt.
Meanwhile, when our correspondent called the spokesman of the Kogi State Police Command, DSP Williams Ovye Ayah, on Monday for confirmation, he said he has been making frantic effort to contact the police divisional office proved abortive but he said he would get back the press.
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