Paul Osuyi, Asaba
Gunmen suspected to be Fulani herdsmen struck on Saturday morning at Issele-Mkpetime, an agrarian community in Aniocha North Local Government Area of Delta State, where they kidnapped an Anglican Priest, Rev. Anthony Oyi.
Also kidnapped along with the priest, is a middle-aged man whose identity could not be ascertained as at the time of filing this report.
Rev. Oyi who resides at Oko-Ogbele, near Asaba, the state capital had gone to his farm with his family at Issele-Mkpetime, his hometown, where the hoodlums struck.
Community sources claimed that the entire household of the cleric was initially abducted in one fell swoop by the gun-wielding hoodlums.
“The abductors released their victim’s wife and children and kept the Reverend and the other man, asking the wife to go look for ransom for her husband’s release,” a source volunteered.
According to the source, the vigilante in Issele-Uku and Issele-Mkpitime have been alerted, and search party dispatched into the bush, but stressed that the need for the police to act fast to free the captives.
Contacted, Public Relations Officer of the state police command, DSP Onome Onovwakpoyeya confirmed the abduction to Sunday Sun on phone, adding that that “the police were already combing the bushes to free the victims.”