Unidentified gunmen have reportedly abducted about 11 staff of Umunneochi local government council in Abia State.
A resident of the area told our reporter that the council workers were returning from a traditional marriage ceremony when the incident occurred at about 5pm in the evening on Monday, at Leru , a boundary town between Abia and Imo states along the Enugu – Port Harcourt expressway.
He further said the staffers were travelling in a bus when the kidnappers struck and that some of them escaped while they took others into the bush.
The State President of Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees, NULGE, Comrade Ikechi Nwaigwe, confirmed the incident, noting that it has been reported to the Umunneochi Police Division.
“Information reaching the NULGE office reveals that some members of our staff from Umunneochi LGA were kidnapped yesterday about 5 pm on their way back from traditional marriage of their colleague and taken into the bush along Enugu/Port Harcourt expressway within Imo/Abia state boundary in Leru town. Up to this moment, they are still in the custody of the kidnappers”, he stated.
Nwaigwe, however, disclosed that the kidnappers have demanded a N50 million ransom but later reduced it to N25 million and urged members of the union to pray for the safe release of the abducted workers.
“We urge all our members to pray for God’s intervention for their release. There’s nothing God cannot do. With prayers all things are possible to them that believe in God.”
All efforts to speak with the Police Public Relations Officer, Abia State Command, SP Geoffrey Ogbonna, proved abortive as at press time.
