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Residents block highway over incessant kidnapping in Nasarawa community
) Hundreds of youths from Sarkin Noma Community in Keana Local Government of Nasarawa State on Friday blocked the Makurdi highway to protest persistent invasion and kidnappings by gunmen in their area.
The youths, carrying placards with different inscriptions and leaves, blocked the road for several hours before Shettima Jauro-Mohammed, the Commissioner of Police in the state, pacified them to open the road for free-flow of traffic.
A youth leader in the community, Mr Ogu Iliya, told journalists that the protest was to draw the authorities’ attention to their plight and demand urgent intervention.
Illiya explained that gunmen, numbering about 50, stormed the community at the early hours of Nov. 7, shot sporadically and abducted an elderly resident, Matthew Anzaku.
According to him, the youths mobilised in self-defence to rescue the kidnapped victim, but two of the youths were unfortunately shot dead during the encounter.
Iliya explained that the latest attack and kidnapping had became too many, adding that the residents now live in fear and helplessness.
“The gunmen terrorising us always attack any resident who goes to the market to sell his or her farm produce.
“The gunmen, suspected to be herdsmen, come to kidnap them until ransom is paid.
“It has become unbearable and the elderly man taken last night is still missing, and we don’t know his condition,” he said.
The angry youths took the corpses of the two victims to the highway and blocked the road, halting vehicular movement along the busy Makurdi route.
In a reaction, Rahman Nansel, Police Public Relations Officer in the state, said security operatives led by the Commissioner of Police had restored calm to the area.
Nansel added that the police would investigate the cause of the rampant kidnappings and ensured the perpetrators face justice
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