The Benue state Commissioner for Housing and Urban Development, Chief Ekpe Ogbu, was Sunday evening kidnapped by some yet to be identified gunmen.
The commissioner, Blueprint learnt, was kidnapped at about 4pm together with two other persons at the Adankari junction along Ado – Otukpo road known for notorious criminal activities.
Those kidnapped along with the commissioner were said to be his driver, whose name is yet to be ascertained and one of his brother in-laws, Hon. Agbo Ode.
The commissioner, we further learnt, was traveling to Ado, his local government when the gunmen stopped his vehicle and forcibly dragged him and two others out and took them away.
Sources said the commissioner had earlier attended a Church programme, where Senator Abba Moro, who represent the Benue South Senatorial district, dedicated his campaign council to God at St. Augustine Catholic Church, Otukpo.
He was reportedly heading back to his village in Ndekma, Utonkon in Ado LGA after the Church programme when he fell into the hands of his abductors.
Sources said his official Hilux van he was traveling in was recovered in Otukpo, but the whereabouts of the commissioner and the other victims remains unknown.
The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Benue state command, SP Sewuese Anene, who confirmed the incident to a cross section of journalists in Makurdi Monday, noted that she and a team of police officers were already on their way to the scene of the kidnap incident.
Nene said, “Incident confirmed. We are on our way to the area. I will give you more information when we get there.”