Gunmen kidnap bus passengers in Kogi

Some gunmen have kidnapped some persons travelling in a bus at Okene, Kogi State.

According to a viral post on X, the passengers were travelling from Edo State to Abuja on Wednesday when they were attacked and kidnapped.

The bus, according to the post, belongs to Big Joe Motors, a transport company, based in Benin, the Edo State capital.

The driver of the bus was among those kidnapped.

David Aiguobagbon, a manager with the Abuja branch of the transport company, confirmed the incident to PREMIUM TIMES on phone on Thursday.

Mr Aiguobagbon, however, said he was not sure of how many people were abducted because the bus had the capacity for only 13 passengers and some were able to flee the scene.

“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.

When contacted, the police spokesperson in Edo State, Chidi Uwabuzor, said the incident did not happen within his jurisdiction and requested this reporter to call his counterpart in Kogi State.

“Please ask PPRO Kogi. The incident falls within the jurisdiction of Kogi state,” Mr Uwabuzor said.

The spokesperson for Kogi Police Command, William Aya, told PREMIUM TIMES he was aware of the incident.

Mr Aya promised to confirm the incident to our reporter but had not done so at the time of filing this report.

Subsequent calls and messages to his phone were not responded to.

Meanwhile, a 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.”