Six persons travelling from Kano to Okpoga in Benue State have reportedly been abducted by gunmen along the Adoka-Otukpo Road, while the kidnappers abandoned the corpse of a woman they were conveying for burial.
The incident reportedly occurred around 8 p.m. on Friday when the travellers were intercepted by the armed men along Adoka Road in Okpokwu Local Government Area.
An activist and citizen journalist, Meddy Olotu, disclosed the incident in a video shared on social media, appealing to security agencies to intervene. He said family members lost contact with the travellers after they arrived in Adoka on Friday night.
According to Olotu, operatives of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) discovered the woman’s corpse in the vehicle the following morning and took it to the police station in Adoka before it was deposited in a mortuary.
He further disclosed that the kidnappers had demanded a ransom of ₦15 million for the release of the six victims, who were still in captivity as of Monday.
Olotu said one of the family members had been communicating with the abductors, as he understood Hausa, the language reportedly being used by the kidnappers.
He lamented that the family, already grieving over the woman’s death, was now faced with the additional burden of raising the ransom demanded for the release of their loved ones.
The activist appealed to the relevant authorities to take urgent action to secure the victims’ freedom and enable the family to take the woman’s remains home for burial.
Efforts to reach the Benue State Police Command spokesperson, DSP Orchia Peter Aondong, for confirmation and comments were unsuccessful as of the time of filing this report.