From Jude Chinedu, Enugu
A former Secretary to the Enugu State government, Dr. Dan Shere, has been abducted by suspected herdsmen.
Shere, who served under the administration of Chimaroke Nnamani, was among several other commuters kidnapped along the Enugu-Ugwuogo Nike-Nsukka Road yesterday. It was learnt that he was travelling to Nsukka for a meeting when the gunmen attacked him alongside other travellers.
Herdsmen had also kidnapped an unknown number of travellers, including students of the University of Nigeria, along the same road on Sunday. The students were returning to the school after the protracted ASUU strike. Their captors are reportedly demanding a ransom of N300 million.
However, the school authority has raised doubt over the reported kidnap, saying that no parent has approached the institution to report that their ward was missing.
In the recent incident, which occurred yesterday afternoon, it is unclear how many people were kidnapped, but sources said they were more than 10. A survivor, who shared a video of the attack, said the gunmen were about eight in number.
“They shot severally at our vehicle; one of us was hit by the bullets. But our driver managed to move on. We succeeded in taking the victim to the hospital,” he narrated, while thanking God for saving him and four others from the same community.
Spokesman of the police in Enugu, Daniel Ndukwe, was yet to confirm the development at the time of this report, as he did not pick calls to his mobile phone.