The Kogi State Police Command has launched a spirited manhunt for the kidnappers of the 14 Abuja-bound travellers in two different luxury buses abducted at Inyenle Eteke, Ogugu , Olalamaboro Local Government Area of Kogi State.
Our correspondent gathered that a social media influencer, Chude Nnamdi, who broke the news on his verified X (formerly Twitter) handle, chude_, on Sunday, disclosed that the two buses belong to Good Is Good and ABC Transport.
Nnamdi tweeted that his wife was sadly in one of the hijacked buses but could not ascertain the number of persons in the two buses.
“The report reaching me this morning is that a GIG & ABC Transport buses heading to Abuja were hijacked by kidnappers yesterday in Kogi State.
“The GIG bus left Umuahia at 7:30 am and was hijacked at Kogi State. GIG Company said they have contacted security services and they are tracking them. The kidnappers phoned this morning via my wife’s phone and were demanding N15m”, Chude said.
When contacted by PUNCH Metro, the Kogi State Police Command, while confirming the incident, said it had launched a search and rescue operation to rescue the victims and begun a manhunt to arrest the perpetrators.
The command’s Public Relations Officer, SP William Aya, said the Area Commander who led his team to the area saw the two buses but did not see the occupants and therefore could not ascertain the number of people on the two buses.
However, in a statement issued later in the day and sent to our correspondent, Aya said that “God is Good Motors was with 12 passengers while ABC was with two passengers.
“Meanwhile, the driver of the ‘God is Good’ Motors, Mr Godwin Oniovosa, was later rescued” adding that “bush combing continues.”
When our correspondent contacted the God is Good Motors customer care unit, they declined to comment on the matter, stating that they were not authorised to speak. However, an officer from the unit provided our correspondent with the contact information of a senior officer identified as Chinyere who could speak on the matter.
“Please, call me back in five minutes,” Chinyere told our correspondent during a phone call. However, attempts to reach her after the specified time proved unsuccessful.
It was observed that she had blocked the telephone number of our correspondent.
As per ABC Transport, the available telephone lines were not accessible as of the time of filing this report.
