A police officer attached to the traditional ruler of Nakera community in the Wamba Local Government Area of Nasarawa State has been allegedly killed.
This is following the attack on the palace of the Chu Buh.
Sources revealed that during the attack on the palace, the gunmen also kidnapped his wife, Patience Tari and one of his aides, Kefas Shehu, to a yet to be identified location.
A resident of the community, who is simply identified as Deyen Oriku, revealed that the gunmen who stormed the palace of the monarch in their large number, shot sporadically into the air while carrying out their nefarious activities.
Oriku lamented that security threats in the community had heightened in the past six months despite several pleas for the deployment of more security personnel to the area.
“The level of insecurity in the entire Wamba LGA is becoming unbearable. Kidnapping for ransom has now become the order of the day,” he stated.
Explaining further, he narrated, “On Sunday when the gunmen attacked the community, they came in their numbers and they were shooting in several directions, but because it was late at night, many of us (residents) remained inside our houses. It was later that night that we heard about the death of the policeman and the kidnap of two people from the monarch’s house.
“We heard that the monarch was able to escape during the attack with the help of some of the villagers. Also, we were told that the kidnappers went away with the killed policeman’s rifle.
“It was after the attack that the military arrived in the community to render security assistance to us. By then, the armed men had already gone very far with their victims because it was close to one hour after the operation before they (military) came.’’
Oriku pointed out, “I am appealing to the Nasarawa State Government to urgently look into the matter of insecurity in communities across Wamba LGA with a view to proffering a lasting solution to the steady attacks by bandits,”.
Meanwhile, on Monday, gathered that the kidnappers have reached out to the family, demanding a N20 million ransom for their release.
A family source disclosed, “The kidnappers are now demanding a whopping sum of N20 million before they would be released from captivity.
“The community has been thrown into confusion since they were kidnapped because most people here are farmers. Now that they (kidnappers) are requesting that huge amount of money, I really don’t know what we will do about the matter.
The family source further said, “At this moment, we need the help of the state government and other good-spirited Nigerians to come to our aide because we do not have the resources to pay for their release,”.
Our correspondent recalls that gunmen had invaded the community in February, during which period a youth leader of the community and two other residents were kidnapped for ransom.
DSP Ramhan Nansel, Confirming the incident to in Lafia on Monday, the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Confirming the incident to in Lafia on Monday, sympathized with the people of the area over the unfortunate incident.
He stated that in order to ensure that the community’s normalcy returns and to save the kidnapped victims unharmed, Commissioner of Police Umar Nadada had ordered a comprehensive investigation into the situation.
Nansel added, “The incident happened last night (Sunday), and the command has launched an investigation into the case. Efforts are ongoing to identify and apprehend the perpetrators of the dastardly act,”.
