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Sola Ojo, Kaduna
The Kaduna State government and the state police command, in separate statements, clarified the alleged kidnapping of 13 persons between Saturday and Monday saying, six persons were abducted and not 13 as reported in the media.
Commissioner, Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, said: “The attention of the Kaduna State Security Council has been drawn to a story making the rounds on social media, suggesting that armed bandits blocked the Kaduna-Abuja highway on September 23 and kidnapped 13 commuters.
“To set the record straight, there was no report of bandits blocking the Kaduna-Abuja highway or subsequently kidnapping any commuters on that road. Rather, the crime happened in a village.
“From crime entries and reports from the District Head of Gwagwada, Alhaji Shittu Abdullahi, six persons were kidnapped in the early hours of Monday September 23, 2019, at Ungwan Hausawa-Dutse, Dutse village in Chikun Local Government Area.
“The kidnapped persons are not commuters plying the Kaduna-Abuja road and were not kidnapped on the road.
“The military and the police are working assiduously to locate and secure the release of the kidnapped persons.
“It is regrettable that innocent persons were kidnapped in their village, and that security challenges persist.
“But this should not be worsened by inaccurate reports of the location of a crime. False reports increase fear among road users and dampen the morale of the military and security agencies who are working to make the highways safe.”
Similarly, the police public relations officer in the state, Yakubu Sabo, said: “The command wishes to debunk the story as a misrepresentation of facts to create panic in the minds of the public who ply the road for their daily lawful activities.
“The command wishes to put the record straight that on September 23, 2019 at about 0130hrs, some armed men in military uniform forcefully entered some houses at the outskirt of Dutse village in Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State and, in the process, abducted six people and took them to unknown destination.
“However, one of the victims, Umar Abbas, 32, later managed to escape from his captors and reported the incident to the command today September 25. \
“The command wants to state categorically that the incident neither involved travellers along Abuja road, nor recorded the figure falsely reported by such media.
“On receipt of that information, the state Commissioner of Police, Ali Aji Janga, immediately mobilized operatives of the command’s anti- kidnapping and SARS units to the area for possible rescue of the remaining victims and arresting the perpetrators of the dastardly act with a view to bringing them to book.”
