By Marcus Ikechukwu
Police in Benue State confirmed the abduction of Ekpe Ogbu, the Benue State Commissioner for Housing and Urban Development, by some gunmen.
Sewuese Anene, the state Police Public Relations Officer, confirmed the incident to reporters in Makurdi.
Anene noted that she and a team of police officers were already on their way to the scene of the kidnap incident.
Anene said, “Incident confirmed. We are on our way to the area. I will give you more information when we get there.”
The Commissioner, in the company of three others, was abducted at the notorious Adankari junction along Ado – Otukpo road at about 9 pm on Sunday.
Other victims included the Commissioner’s driver, whose name is yet to be ascertained and one of his
brothers-in-law, Agbo Ode.
Meanwhile, the Commissioner was believed to be travelling to Ado, his Local Government Area (LGA) of origin, when the gunmen accosted his vehicle and forcibly dragged him and two other occupants out and took them away.
Sources also disclosed that the Commissioner had earlier attended a Church programme, where Senator Abba Moro, Benue South Senatorial district, had earlier dedicated his Campaign Council to God at St. Augustine Catholic Church, Otukpo.
He was reportedly heading back to his village in Ndekma, Utonkon, in Ado LGA after the Church programme when he fell into the hands of his abductors.
The police have, however, recovered the official Hilux van in which the Commissioner was travelling in, but the whereabouts of the commissioner and the other victims are still unknown.
