For the third time in less than 5 months, gunmen have attacked and kidnapped entire passengers travelling in a bus at Okene, Kogi State.
Recall on 6 February 2024, gunmen highjacked GIG and ABC Transport buses heading to Abuja at Inele-Eteke Ogugu new road in Kogi State and kidnapped 14 passengers.
On the 19th of the same month, nine travellers in Oshokoshoko, along Kabba-Obajana-Lokoja road in the state, were also abducted.
For the new incident at Okene, a viral post on X indicate that the passengers were travelling from Edo State to Abuja on Wednesday when they were attacked.
The bus, owned by Big Joe Motors, a transport company based in Benin, had its driver also abducted. The Kogi Police Command confirmed the incident.
David Aiguobagbon, a manager at the Abuja branch of Big Joe Motors, said on Thursday that he was unsure how many people were kidnapped since the bus, which has a capacity for 13 passengers, had some passengers who managed to escape.
“We do not use or have 18 passenger buses. We only have 13. According to what we heard, there were 13 people, and some of the passengers were able to escape. And we have reported it to the police station where the incident happened. But we don’t know the fact yet if it was 13 or 18.
“Some of the passengers left their phones behind, and we have not received any call from the kidnappers yet demanding any ransom,” he said.
Mr Aiguobagbon said one of the company’s managers has travelled to Kogi State in connection with the incident.
“One of our managers is already at the police station in Kogi State helping the police out. We have not heard from the driver yet. He has two phones, one was left behind and he was with the second one. We have been trying to reach him. Yesterday, his phone was still going, but it was already switched off this morning.
“What we are begging is for the families of the people to exercise patience with us, we are working with the police and it will be successful. If any family has been contacted for ransom, they should please contact us,” he said.
Meanwhile an X user, @Pn Stuff, has posted on his account that the kidnappers are demanding N30 million ransom. “I just called the Abuja Big Joe secretary to confirm, and she said it’s true and the kidnappers are asking for #30M.”
